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The  Papacy  in  the  19  th 
Century 

A  Part  of  "The  History  of  Catholicism 
since  the  Restoration  of  the  Papacy" 

By 

Friedrich    Nippold 

Translated  by 

Laurence  Henry  Schwab 

Rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Intercession 
New  York 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  and  London 

Ube  Iknicfterbocfter  press 

1900 


Copyright,  1900 

BY 

LAURENCE  HENRY  SCHWAB 


93G 


Ube  Ttntchetboctier  preee,  "new  Ji^orh 


CHAPTER 
I- 


II— 
III- 

IV- 

V- 

VI- 

VII- 

VIII- 

IX- 
X- 

XI- 

XII- 

XIII- 

XIV- 

XV- 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction  by  the  Translator i 

PART  I 

THE    PAPACY    AFTER    THE    RESTORATION    IN    1814 

-The  Restoration  of  Pius  VII.,  its  Significance  and 

Consequences 11 

The    Restoration    and   Renewed  Expansion  of   the 

Order  of  Jesuits 31 

The  Era  of  the  Concordats  under  Pius  VII.     .        .  51 

•The  States  of  the  Church  under  Pius  VII.       .        .  63 

Pope  Leo  XII,  (1823-1829) 7^ 

Pius  VIII,  (1829-1830)  and  the  Revolution  of  1830     ,  82 

The  Reign  of  Gregory  XVI.  (1831-1846)       ...  95 
The  First  "  Liberal"  Period  of  the  Reign  of  Pius  IX. 

(1846-1850) .  113 

Pius  IX,  at  the   Head   of  the   European  Reaction 

(1850-1859) 126 

■The   Papacy   durins  the    Reconstruction   of  Italy  " 

and  Germany  (1859-1870) 135 

■The  First  Vatican  Council 149 

•Pius  IX.  in  the  International  "  Kulturkampf  '         .  i63""' 

The  Peace-Pope,  Leo  XIII 192 

The  Papacy  and  the  Oriental  Crisis  .        .        .        .211 
The  Infallible  Papacy  in  its  Relations  to  Society, 

to  Learning,  and  to  Religion 223 

iii 


IV 


Contejits 


PART  II 

CATHOLICISM  AND  PAPALISM  IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XVI — The     So-Called    Catholic    Emancipation    in    Great 

Britain 253 

XVII — The  English    Conversions    and    their  Consequences 

FOR  the  English  Church — The  Oxford  Movement.     262 
XVIII — The  New  Papal  Hierarchy  in  England  and  the  Fruits 

of  the  Papal  System  in  Ireland        .        .        .        .312 
XIX — American    Catholicism    and   the   Roman   Church  in 

THE  North  American  Union 327 

XX — The  Latin  States  of  America  in  their  Relations  to 
THE    Roman    Curia   and    in    their    Ecclesiastical 

Development 346 

XXI — Catholic  and  Papal 361 


PART  I 

THE    PAPACY   AFTER   THE    RESTORATION 
IN    1814 


INTRODUCTION   BY   THE   TRANSLATOR 


**  T^HE  Roman  Church  is  only  Roman  and  everywhere 
1  anti-national ;  she  endeavours  to  force  everything 
into  her  own  forms  and  formulas  and  does  not  rest  until 
she  has  obliterated  the  national  character  of  the  Church 
and  stifled  all  national  life  in  the  Church.  .  .  .  The 
Roman  Church  is  everywhere  a  foreigner,  even  in  Italy ; 
for  she  everywhere  pursues  tendencies  which  are  opposed 
to  the  tendencies  of  the  country."  The  truth  of  these 
words,  spoken  by  Bishop  Herzog,  is  confirmed  by  the 
history  of  the  Papacy  in  this  century  as  Professor  Nip- 
pold  has  set  it  forth. 

The  average  Protestant,  when  he  thinks  of  the  dangers 
of  Romanism,  is  apt  to  bring  before  his  mind  pictures  of 
Smithfield  fires,  the  horrors  of  the  Inquisition,  or  the 
cruelties  of  Alva.  Even  so  great  an  historian  as  Ranke 
seems  to  have  had  something  like  this  in  mind  when,  in 
the  Introduction  to  his  History  of  the  Popes,  he  wrote 
that  the  Papacy  "  no  longer  exercises  any  essential  influ- 
ence —  the  times  are  past  in  which  we  had  anything  to 
fear."  True:  we  need  no  longer  fear  bodily  harm,  and 
those  who  are  anxious  only  to  save  their  skin  may  set 
their  minds  at  rest.  But  are  there  not  other  considera- 
tions that  may  appeal  with  equal  force  to  our  anxious 
solicitude  ?  Is  not  the  possibility  of  national  decay 
something  to  care  about  ?  The  danger  from  the  Church 
of  Rome  to-day  is  not  the  stake  or  torture ;  but  it  is  the 
danger  from  insidious  moral  and  spiritual  forces  threat- 

3 


4  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

ening  to  stop  a  nation's  progress,  to  corrupt  a  nation's 
ethical  standard,  to  darken  a  nation's  intellect.  The 
greatest  task  which  God  has  appointed  to  the  religious 
forces  of  this  country  to-day  is  to  build  up  a  government 
in  city,  state,  and  nation,  which  shall  be  pure  and  just; 
and  the  papal  system  is  the  most  determined  enemy  to 
the  accomplishment  of  that  task. 

Nippold  has  sketched  the  history  of  the  Papacy  in  this 
century  as  it  is;  he  has  dealt  with  the  facts  according  to 
the  common  rules  of  evidence  followed  in  secular  his- 
tory. This  method  is  to  be  clearly  distinguished  from 
the  method  so  frequently  adopted  by  writers  of  ecclesi- 
astical history,  who  handle  facts  according  to  a  priori 
preconceptions,  who  look  at  Church  history  through  the 
medium  of  a  theological,  aesthetic,  or  sentimental  haze, 
who  depict  events  and  men  as  they  ought  to  be  or  as 
they  would  like  them  to  be,  not  as  they  are.  From  such 
this  volume  will  receive  no  welcome. 

The  essential  purpose  of  this  history  is  to  rescue  Cath- 
olicism from  its  papal  caricature  and  to  maintain  its 
importance  as  a  corrective  to  Protestant  individualism. 

In  order  to  explain  and  emphasise  this  distinction  be- 
tween Catholicism  amd  papalism,  it  will  be  well  to  place 
before  the  reader  certain  portions  of  the  three  additions 
to  the  faith  which  the  modern  Papacy  has  imposed  upon 
the  Church  of  Rome  and  which  differentiate  by  a  clear 
line  of  demarcation  the  "  papalism  "  of  our  time  from 
the  Roman  Catholicism  of  former  generations:  the  De- 
cree of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  promulgated  by  the 
sole  authority  of  Pius  IX.  in  1854,  the  "  Papal  Syllabus 
of  Errors,"  likewise  resting  upon  the  sole  authority  of 
the  pope  and  issued  by  Pius  IX.  in  1864,  and  the  Decree 
of  Papal  Infallibility,  nominally  pronounced  by  the  Vati- 
can Council  in   1870,  but  in  reality,  like  the  other  two 


Introduction  by  the  Translator  5 

documents,  imposed  upon  the  Church  by  the  pope  and 
the  Jesuits.  These  three  formularies  are  to-day  just  as 
binding  upon  the  Roman  Catholic  as  the  decrees  of  the 
Council  of  Trent  or  any  other  creed  or  dogma,  and  will 
furnish  the  official  answer  to  the  question,  What  is 
modern  Romanism  ? 

I  quote  from  the  English  version  of  Schaff's  Creeds  of 
Christendom. 

According  to  the  Decree  of  the  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  has  been  "  from  the  first 
instant  of  her  conception,  by  a  singular  grace  and  privi- 
lege of  Almighty  God,  in  view  of  the  merits  of  Christ 
Jesus  the  Saviour  of  mankind,  preserved  free  from  all 
stain  of  original  sin."  Those  who  think  otherwise  "  have 
made  shipwreck  concerning  the  faith  "  and  they  "  sub- 
ject themselves  to  the  penalties  ordained  by  law,  if,  by 
word  or  writing,  or  any  other  external  means,  they  dare 
to  signify  what  they  think  in  their  hearts." 

The  "  Syllabus  "  of  Pius  IX.  is  a  collection  of  eighty 
errors  which  the  pope  condemns.  Schaff  says  concern- 
ing it  in  a  prefatory  note:  "This  document,  though 
issued  by  the  sole  authority  of  pope  Pius  IX.,  Dec.  8, 
1864,  must  be  regarded  now  as  infallible  and  irreform- 
able,  even  without  the  formal  sanction  of  the  Vatican 
Council.  It  is  purely  negative,  but  indirectly  it  teaches 
and  enjoins  the  very  opposite  of  what  it  condemns  as 
error."  Nippold  states  that  the  "  Syllabus  "  has  been 
expressly  declared  infallible  by  Leo  XIII.  The  follow- 
ing are  among  the  errors  condemned : 

(11)  The  Church  not  only  ought  never  to  animadvert  upon 
philosophy,  but  ought  to  tolerate  the  errors  of  philosophy, 
leaving  to  philosophy  the  care  of  their  correction. 

(13)  The  method  and  principles  by  which  the  old  scholastic 
doctors  cultivated  theology  are  no  longer  suitable  to  the 
demands  of  the  age  and  the  progress  of  science. 


6  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

(14)  Philosophy  must  be  treated  of  without  any  account 
being  taken  of  supernatural  revelation. 

(15)  Every  man  is  free  to  embrace  and  profess  the  religion 
he  shall  believe  true,  guided  by  the  light  of  reason. 

(17)  We  may  entertain  at  least  a  well-founded  hope  for  the 
eternal  salvation  of  all  those  who  are  in  no  manner  in  the  true 
Church  of  Christ. 

(18)  Protestantism  is  nothing  more  than  another  form  of 
the  same  true  Christian  religion,  in  which  it  is  possible  to  be 
equally  pleasing  to  God  as  in  the  Catholic  Church. 

(24)  The  Church  has  not  the  power  of  availing  herself  of 
force,  or  any  direct  or  indirect  temporal  power. 

(27)  The  ministers  of  the  Church,  and  the  Roman  Pontiff, 
ought  to  be  absolutely  excluded  from  all  charge  and  dominion 
over  temporal  affairs. 

(39)  The  commonwealth  is  the  origin  and  source  of  all 
rights,  and  possesses  rights  which  are  not  circumscribed  by 
any  limits. 

(42)  In  the  case  of  conflicting  laws  between  the  two  powers, 
the  civil  law  ought  to  prevail. 

(45)  The  entire  direction  of  public  schools,  in  which  the 
youth  of  Christian  states  are  educated,  except  (to  a  certain 
extent)  in  the  case  of  episcopal  seminaries,  may  and  must 
appertain  to  the  civil  power,  and  belong  to  it  so  far  that  no 
other  authority  whatsoever  shall  be  recognised  as  having  any 
right  to  interfere  in  the  discipline  of  the  schools,  the  arrange- 
ments of  the  studies,  the  taking  of  degrees,  or  the  choice  and 
approval  of  the  teachers. 

(47)  The  best  theory  of  civil  society  requires  that  popular 
schools  open  to  children  of  all  classes,  and,  generally,  all 
public  institutes  intended  for  instruction  in  letters  and  philos- 
ophy, and  for  conducting  the  education  of  the  young,  should 
be  freed  from  all  ecclesiastical  authority,  government,  and 
interference,  and  should  be  fully  subject  to  the  civil  and 
political  power,  in  conformity  with  the  will  of  rulers  and  the 
prevalent  opinions  of  the  age. 

(48)  This  system  of  instructing  youth,  which  consists  in 
separating  it  from  the  Catholic  faith  and  the  power  of  the 


Introduction  by  the  Translator  7 

Church,  and  in  teaching  exclusively,  or  at  least  primarily,  the 
knowledge  of  natural  things  and  the  earthly  ends  of  social 
life  alone,  may  be  approved  by  Catholics. 

(55)  The  Church  ought  to  be  separated  from  the  State,  and 
the  State  from  the  Church. 

(74)  Matrimonial  causes  and  espousals  belong  by  their  very 
nature  to  civil  jurisdiction. 

(77)  In  the  present  day,  it  is  no  longer  expedient  that  the 
Catholic  religion  shall  be  held  as  the  only  religion  of  the  State, 
to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  modes  of  worship. 

(78)  Whence  it  has  been  wisely  provided  by  law,  in  some 
countries  called  Catholic,  that  persons  coming  to  reside  therein 
shall  enjoy  the  public  exercise  of  their  own  worship. 

(80)  The  Roman  Pontiff  can  and  ought  to  reconcile  himself 
to,  and  agree  with,  progress,  liberalism,  and  civilisation  as 
lately  introduced. 

The  decrees  of  the  Vatican  Council  are  recorded  in  a 
document  of  considerable  length.  The  last  two  chapters 
are  entitled,  "  On  the  Power  and  Nature  of  the  Primacy 
of  the  Roman  Pontiff  "  and  "  Concerning  the  Infallible 
Teaching  of  the  Roman  Pontiff";  the  latter  ending 
abruptly  in  the  pronouncement  of  papal  infallibility. 
The  very  make-up  of  the  document  witnesses  to  the 
purpose  for  which  the  council  was  called  and  to  whose 
accomplishment  it  was  ruthlessly  directed.  Exclusive 
emphasis  has  been  laid  upon  the  last  chapter  declaring 
the  infallibility;  but  Mr.  Gladstone  —  one  of  the  few 
weighty  public  men  who  have  recognised  the  importance 
of  the  ecclesiastical  factor  in  the  national  life  —  has 
pointed  out  the  far-reaching  and  practically  important 
nature  of  the  claims  made  for  the  pope  in  the  chapter 
next  to  the  last,  "  On  the  Power  and  Nature  of  the 
Primacy  of  the  Roman   Pontiff."     Here  we  read  that 

full  power  was  given  to  him  in  blessed  Peter  to  rule,  feed,  and 
govern  the  universal  Church  by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     .     .     . 


8  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Cenhiry 

Hence  we  teach  and  declare  that  by  the  appointment  of  our 
Lord  the  Roman  Church  possesses  a  superiority  of  ordinary 
power  over  all  other  churches,  and  that  this  power  of  juris- 
diction of  the  Roman  Pontiff,  which  is  truly  episcopal,  is  im- 
mediate; to  which  all,  of  whatever  rite  and  dignity,  both 
pastors  and  faithful,  both  individually  and  collectively,  are 
bound,  by  their  duty  of  hierarchical  subordination  and  true 
obedience,  to  submit  not  only  in  matters  which  belong  to  faith 
and  morals,  but  also  in  those  that  appertain  to  the  discipline 
and  government  of  the  Church  throughout  the  world,  so  that 
the  Church  of  Christ  may  be  one  flock  under  one  supreme 
pastor  through  the  preservation  of  unity  both  of  communion 
and  of  profession  of  the  same  faith  with  the  Roman  Pontiff. 
This  is  the  teaching  of  Catholic  truth,  from  which  no  one  can 
deviate  without  loss  of  faith  and  of  salvation. 

Equally  emphatic  statements  follow,  and  no  claim  to 
unconditioned  and  unquestioning  obedience  could  go 
further  than  that  which  is  made  in  this  chapter  in  behalf 
of  the  pope. 

The  statement  of  papal  infallibility  follows  in  the  next 
chapter.  After  an  introduction  of  some  length,  the 
dogma  is  affirmed,  the  closing  sentences  reading  as 
follows : 

Therefore  —  we  teach  and  define  that  it  is  a  dogma  divinely 
revealed:  that  the  Roman  Pontiff,  when  he  speaks  ex  cathedra, 
that  is,  when,  in  discharge  of  the  office  of  pastor  and  doctor  of 
all  Christians,  by  virtue  of  his  supreme  apostolic  authority,  he 
defines  a  doctrine  regarding  faith  or  morals  to  be  held  by  the 
universal  Church,  by  the  divine  assistance  promised  to  him  in 
blessed  Peter,  is  possessed  of  that  infallibility  with  which  the 
divine  Redeemer  willed  that  his  Church  should  be  endowed 
for  defining  doctrine  regarding  faith  or  morals;  and  that  there- 
fore such  definitions  of  the  Roman  Pontiff  are  irreformable  of 
themselves,  and  not  from  the  consent  of  the  Church. 

But  if  anyone  —  which  may  God  avert  —  presume  to  contra- 
dict this  our  definition:  let  him  be  anathema. 


Introduction  by  the  Tra7islator  9 

Extraordinary  short-sightedness  is  manifested  in  the 
estimation  of  these  papal  documents.  Wiiether  the 
pope  has  ever  issued  an  ex  catJiedra  infallible  pronounce- 
ment is  a  matter  of  absolute  indifference.  The  signifi- 
cance of  these  three  documents  lies  in  the  fact  that  they 
represent  both  the  evidence  and  the  means  of  an  un- 
heard-of centralisation  of  power  in  the  hands  of  one  man 
backed  by  a  powerful  society,  and  that  this  power  enables 
him  and  the  society  to  shape  the  development  and  give 
direction  to  the  energies  of  a  vast  system  —  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church ;  and  that  furthermore  the  first  two 
documents,  the  Decree  of  the  Immaculate  Conception 
and  the  Syllabus,  indicate  the  spirit  in  which  and  the 
ends  towards  which  this  power  is  being  used.  The  con- 
sequences are  the  same  in  America  as  in  Europe :  the 
introduction  of  a  subtle,  dangerous  poison  into  the 
national  life.  Nippold  has  described  the  corrupting 
action  of  this  poison. 

It  is  the  distinction  between  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  as  such  and  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  as  she 
has  become  a  helpless  tool  in  the  hands  of  the  Papacy 
that  invests  Nippold 's  book  with  its  peculiar  interest. 
And  as  one  realises  what  injuries  this  subjection  to  an 
alien  power  has  done  to  the  nations  of  Europe,  one  is 
moved  to  ask  whether  these  injuries  —  of  which  we  have 
had  a  foretaste  —  may  not  be  averted  from  us  by  the  one 
act  which  alone  can  bring  about  this  desirable  object. 
There  is  hardly  any  single  event  which  could  confer  such 
a  boon  upon  this  country  as  the  return  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  in  America  to  a  true  Catholicity,  by  sundering  the 
chain  that  is  dragging  her  at  the  heels  of  a  foreign  despot 
and  by  declaring  herself  independent.  The  Church  of 
Rome  in  America  has  in  prominent  and  influential  posi- 
tions men  who  unite  high  gifts  with  ardent  patriotism 
and  pure  devotion.  But  their  labour  is  largely  a  labour 
of   Sisyphus  while  the   yoke  of    Rome  is  upon   them. 


lo  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

Will  there  be  enough  virility  in  the  Roman  Church  in 
America  to  throw  off  this  yoke  ?  Perhaps  it  was  a  happy 
augury  for  the  future  that  at  the  Council  of  the  Vatican, 
of  the  only  two  votes  which  at  the  final  decision  were 
cast  against  the  infallibility,  one  was  that  of  an  American, 
Bishop  Fitzgerald  of  Little  Rock,  Arkansas. 

Note  :  The  original  of  this  translation,  forming  the 
second  volume  of  Nippold's  Mantial  of  the  Latest  ChurcJi- 
history,  is  entitled  TJie  History  of  Catholicism  since  the 
Restoration  of  the  Papacy.  It  consists  of  three  parts : 
The  Papacy,  the  History  of  Catholicism  outside  of  Ger- 
many, and  the  History  of  Catholicism  in  Germany.  The 
first  of  these  parts  and  six  chapters  of  the  second  are 
presented  in  this  translation.  The  last  chapter  in  the 
translation  has  been  transposed  from  its  position  in  the 
original  and  rewritten. 

The  translator  has  found  it  necessary  to  condense  In 
some  places  and  to  leave  out  parts  that  would  be  intel- 
ligible and  interesting  to  German  readers  only.  The 
footnotes  have  been  added  by  the  translator  where  ex- 
planation seemed  called  for.  Seignobos'  Political  His- 
tory of  Europe  since  1814.,  translated  by  Macvane,  is  an 
admirable  volume  to  refer  to  for  the  general  history  of 
the  period  covered  by  Nippold. 

The  translation  has  been  made  with  the  sanction  of 
the  author  ;  he  is  not  responsible,  however,  for  the 
selection  of  those  parts  which  are  here  presented. 


CHAPTER  I 


THE   RESTORATION   OF   PIUS  VII.,    ITS   SIGNIFICANCE 
AND   CONSEQUENCES* 

THE  restoration  of  the  Papacy  stands  at  the  threshold 
of  a  new  epoch,  and  marks  a  new  departure  in  the 
history  of  that  ancient  institution.  The  after-develop- 
ment of  Catholicism,  and  hardly  less  of  Protestantism, 
even  that  of  the  state  and  of  civilisation,  was  led  into  new 
channels  by  this  departure.  The  pope  had  returned  after 
but  a  few  years'  absence.  What  makes  the  difference 
between  this  return  and  the  many  similar  occurrences  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  so  that  the  after-effects  of  this  return 
surpass  even  those  of  the  return  from  the  exile  at  Avig- 
non ?  ThIs_£uestion  forces  itself  upon  us,  and  is  easily 
answered.  For  the  cause  which  gave  so  widespread  a 
significance  to  this  single  fact  was  the  well-known  re- 
actionary tendency  which  sprang  from  the  Revolution 
and  dominated  the  entire  following  period^  j 

A  direct  result  of  the  counter-revolution,  the  restora- 

'  Pius  VII.,  elected  pope  in  1800,  formed  the  concordat  with  Napoleon 
and  crowned  him  emperor  ;  then  quarrelled  with  Napoleon,  was  arrested 
in  1809,  kept  a  prisoner  at  Savona  and  Fontainebleau  ;  was  restored  and 
returned  to  Rome  after  the  peace  of  Paris  in  1S14. 

The  year  1814  marks  the  most  important  turning-point  in  the  history  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  It  saw  Napoleon  conquered  and  banished,  the 
Bourbons  returned  in  the  person  of  Louis  XVIII.,  and  the  Congress  of 
Vienna,  consisting  of  the  plenipotentiaries  of  the  various  states,  convened  in 
order  to  rectify  the  much-disturbed  map  of  Europe.  The  era  of  revolution 
is  over  and  the  era  of  legitimacy  and  reaction  begins. 


1 2  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Ce^ititry 

tion  of  the  Papacy  appears  not  as  an  isolated  fact, 
affecting  only  the  city  of  Rome  or  the  states  of  the 
Church,  but  as  one  natural  result  of  certain  universal 
tendencies.  The  conception  of  sovereignty  as  such 
seemed  to  find  its  firmest  support  against  the  ideas  of 
the  Revolution  in  the  primacy  of  the  Roman  bishop,  in- 
dependent as  it  was  of  any  democratic  influence.  The 
emancipation  of  this  primacy  from  Napoleonic  oppression 
was  therefore  looked  upon  as  the  climax  of  all  the  victories 
won  over  the  Revolution.  The  decrees  issued  from  the 
threshold  of  the  apostle's  grave  bore  the  seal  of  "  divine 
right  "  more  directly  than  the  mandate  of  any  other 
monarch,  and  it  was  owing  to  the  support  which  the 
principle  of  absolutism  found  in  the  Papacy  that  the 
spirit  which  now  took  possession  of  Rome  spread  its  in- 
fluence over  one  land  after  another.  Therefore  let  us 
consider  the  restoration  of  the  Papacy  first  in  its  own 
character  and  meaning,  and  then  trace  its  consequences. 

The  allied  armies  had  not  yet  entered  Paris  when  Pius 
VII.,  released  from  his  prison  at  Fontainebleau,  arrived 
in  Italy.  At  precisely  the  same  time  that  Napoleon, 
after  his  abdication  on  the  nth  of  April,  1814,  began  his 
melancholy  retreat  to  the  island  of  Elba,  the  pope  entered 
his  ancient  capital  and  attracted  multitudes  of  devoted 
souls  from  far  and  near.  Former  political  enemies  also 
paid  him  their  homage:  Murat,  with  Charles  IV.  of 
Spain,  the  queen  of  Etruria  and  the  king  of  Sardinia. 
But  the  people  of  Italy  received  him  with  no  less  joy, 
and  his  entry  into  Rome  on  the  24th  of  May,  1814,  was 
like  the  return  home  of  a  victorious  emperor.  Even  the 
Protestants  living  in  Rome  wanted  to  raise  a  monument 
to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  a  renewed  Papacy.  These 
may  have  been  enthusiasts — artists,  half  proselytes,  or 
perhaps  secret  converts;  yet  their  action  was  but  the 
expression  of  the  prevalent  temper. 


The  Restoration  of  Pius  VII.  13 

The  fact  that  this  feeling  of  admiration  for  the  Papacy 
vv^as  especially  strong  in  the  artistic  world  proves  how 
great  an  attraction  the  residence  of  the  pope,  in  the  new 
peace-era,  exerted  upon  the  art  of  all  cultured  nations. 
The  dearly  bought  peace  had  at  last  made  it  possible  for 
men  to  indulge  the  longing  for  Italy  which  Winkelmann 
and  Goethe  had  awakened,  and  very  few  gave  heed  to 
the  system  of  papal  csesarism  which,  with  its  plans  of  a 
world-empire  only  temporarily  in  abeyance,  had  once 
more  set  up  its  throne  in  the  ancient  capital  of  the 
world.  Men  saw  only  the  return  of  the  days  of  the 
Renaissance,  the  days  of  Leo  X.,  the  days  of  Raphael 
and  Michael  Angelo.  One  nation  after  another  sent 
its  greatest  masters  to  school  in  Rome,  and  the  many 
biographies  of  artists  which  treat  of  this  period  appear  to 
witness  to  a  second  Renaissance. 

Rome  became  at  the  same  time  the  home  or  the  object 
of  pilgrimage  for  many  noble  persons.  The  old  kings  of 
Spain  and  of  Sardinia  and  the  family  of  Napoleon  came 
to  live  there.  The  former  found  in  the  restored  Papacy 
a  guarantee  of  legitimacy,  the  latter  trusted  to  the  grati- 
tude of  the  pope.  The  relatives  of  the  fallen  emperor, 
especially  his  mother,  Lsetitia,  and  his  brother,  King 
Louis  of  Holland,  had  in  the  time  of  their  splendour 
allied  themselves  with  the  papal  interests,  and  now  found 
in  Rome  not  only  an  asylum  for  themselves,  but  also  the 
hope  of  a  happier  future  for  their  families.  Even  the 
reigning  house  of  Prussia  had  a  representative  in  Rome 
in  the  person  of  Prince  Henry,  who,  in  spite  of  his 
delicate  health,  was  a  man  of  some  influence. 

At  no  previous  time  had  the  salons  of  the  Roman 
nobili  seen  more  numerous  and  more  influential  guests. 
The  first  princes  of  Europe,  one  after  another,  went  on 
pilgrimage  to  Rome:  the  emperor  of  Austria,  the  king  of 
Prussia,  the  Prussian,  Bavarian,  Danish  crown  princes. 
Each  of  these  visits  was  celebrated  with  festivities,  in 


14  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Cenhcry 

which  the  artistic  interests  played  a  prominent  part,  but 
which  at  the  same  time  served  the  papal  policy  well.  In 
fact,  all  those  personal  connections  which  were  then 
begun  were  used  to  serve  the  purposes  of  the  Curia. 
The  youthful  diplomats  who  won  their  spurs  in  Rome 
soon  learned  to  know  the  advantage  which  a  Avord  of  re- 
commendation from  the  Roman  secretary  of  state  to  their 
ministry  at  home  gave  them. 

As  the  paradise  of  artists,  the  Mecca  of  princes,  the 
favourite  stepping-stone  of  future  statesmen,  Rome 
seemed  once  more  the  capital  of  the  world ;  and  it  was 
inevitable  that  the  veneration  paid  to  the  holy  city  should 
be  attributed  to  the  influence  of  the  Roman  bishop.  For 
the  master  of  Rome,  master  in  the  temporal  as  well  as  the 
spiritual  sphere,  was  no  other  than  the  pope-king.  Since 
the  time  when  Constantine  yielded  the  seat  of  empire  in 
the  old  Rome  and  the  Roman  bishop  took  the  emperor's 
place  as  his  legitimate  successor,  the  condition  of  things 
had  perhaps  never  been  more  promising. 

"  It  was  the  deep  humiliation,  the  long  misery,  of  the 
Church  herself,  that  had  changed  public  feeling  in  her 
favour;  she  who  had  once  been  feared  had  become  an 
object  of  pity  and  sympathy. ' '  So  says  Gervinus. '  And 
this  sympathy,  as  he  points  out,  was  given  to  Pius  VII. 
personally.  His  long  imprisonment  had  made  him  appear 
as  a  martyr,  and  the  patience  and  mildness  which  he  had 
shown  had  everywhere  won  men's  hearts.  Everybody 
was  ready  for  concessions,  and  few  remembered  that 
these  concessions  were  made,  not  to  the  good-natured 
person  of  the  pope,  but  to  the  callously  selfish  hierarchy. 
Indeed,  the  sacrifices  made  to  the  Papacy  were  not  felt 
as  such.  The  revolutionary  chaos  which  had  lasted  a 
full  quarter  of  a  century  had  awakened  such  a  longing  for 
peace  and  at  the  same  time  for  authority,  that  the  pre- 
tended rock  of  St.  Peter  appeared  in  a  manner  as  the 

^  Histo7-y  of  the  Nineteenth  Cetitury,  1S58. 


The  Restoration  of  Pius  VII.  15 

altar  upon  which  thank-offerings  were  paid  to  God  for  the 
return  of  peace.  Pius  was  celebrated  not  only  as  one 
who  had  suffered  most  from  the  demon  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, but  also  as  the  representative  of  counter-revolution- 
ary and  conservative  interests. 

The  Papacy  derived  its  greatest  advantages,  however, 
from  the  victories  of  non-Roman  Catholic  nations.  For 
the  arms  of  England,  Russia,  and  Prussia  had  made  its 
restoration  possible.  And  after  the  pope  had  been  re- 
stored their  princes  did  all  they  could  to  strengthen  his 
throne.  Alexander  I.  of  Russia,  much  given  to  emotional 
politics,  saw  in  the  pope  only  the  princely  martyr.  Prus- 
sia insisted  upon  the  restitution  of  the  states  of  the 
Church  more  strenuously  than  did  Austria;  the  latter 
with  all  its  legitimacy  would  gladly  have  kept  a  piece  for 
itself.  Even  the  regent  of  England  entered  into  corre- 
spondence with  Pius,  and  in  spite  of  existing  laws  received 
his  ambassador  with  particular  favour. 

In  the  introduction  to  the  memoirs  of  this  ambassador 
(Consalvi)  there  is  a  collection  of  characteristic  letters 
from  other  illustrious  Protestants,  who  far  surpassed 
born  Catholics  in  the  glorification  of  the  papal  idea.  The 
latter  had  known  enough  to  discriminate  to  a  certain  de- 
gree between  Catholicism  and  Papalism.  The  ignorance 
of  born  Protestants  in  Catholic  matters  had  made  no  such 
distinction.  It  is  no  mere  chance  that  the  biographies  of 
such  papal  autocrats  as  Leo  I.,  Nicholas  I.,  Gregory  VII., 
Innocent  III.  were  written  by  converts;  and  it  shows  to 
what  extent  principles  formerly  held  dear  were  forgotten, 
that  not  a  few  Protestant  historians — both  secular  and 
ecclesiastical — became  instrumental  in  preparing  the  way 
for  the  restoration  of  the  papal  power. 

In  the  Catholic  world  De  Maistre  and  his  associates  had 
cultivated  the  soil  by  preaching  papal  infallibility  as  the 
only  sure  support  for  the  power  of  princes.     The  German 


1 6  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

Romanticists,  too,  who  out  of  the  clear  atmosphere  of  the 
present  dreamed  themselves  back  into  the  incense  clouds 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  proclaimed  the  pope  as  the  ultimate 
arbiter  of  national  differences. 

The  ruling  statesman  of  the  following  era  himself  stood 
under  the  influence  of  a  tendency  which  was  just  as  much 
opposed  to  the  Reformation  and  all  that  the  Reformation 
stood  for  as  it  was  favourable  to  the  Papacy.  A  master 
of  social  form,  adroit  and  facile,  with  an  excellent  know- 
ledge of  human  nature,  understanding  how  to  judge  and 
treat  each  man  aright,  Prince  Metternich  was  not  a  man 
of  creative  ideas.  His  policy,  which  was  bent  upon  the 
outward  preservation  of  the  existing  status,  was  blind  to 
the  existence  of  ideal  motive  powers.  His  opposition  to 
the  modern  world  of  ideas  made  him  an  enemy  to  the 
foundation  of  that  modern  world  in  the  Reformation. 
Metternich's  frivolous  private  journalist,  Gentz,  the 
representative  of  world-worn  voluptuousness  without 
moral  principle,  was  a  useful  instrument  in  carrying  out 
this  policy.  By  name  a  Protestant,  he  outdid  the  anti- 
Reformation  attitude  of  the  chancellor. 

Under  such  auspices  Austrian  statesmanship,  which 
since  Austria's  accession  to  the  alliance  against  Napoleon 
had  reached  the  acme  of  influence,  showed  itself,  where 
political  interests  did  not  run  counter,  sympathetic 
and  helpful  to  the  pretensions  of  the  Papacy.  As  the 
only  Catholic  state  of  the  first  order  in  the  alliance 
against  Napoleon,  Austria  at  once  sent  its  own  am- 
bassador to  Rome,  who  became  the  first  adviser  of  the 
pope. 

The  restored  dynasties  met  the  renewed  Papacy  with 
even  greater  sympathy.  The  principle  of  the  solidarity 
of  throne  and  altar  had  become  the  accepted  doctrine, 
and  the  Bourbons  of  France,  Spain,  and  Naples  and  the 
king  of  Sardinia  outdid  one  another  in  devotion  to  the 


The  Resto7^ation  of  Pius  VII.  17 

Holy  See.  On  the  other  hands,  the  ancient  tradition  of 
the  national  churches  fell  into  disrepute  as  the  products 
of  unbelief  and  revolution. 

It  need  hardly  be  said  that  this  universal  love  of  the 
Papacy  had  not  the  remotest  connection  with  religious 
motives.  At  the  founding  of  the  Holy  Alliance'  such 
ideal  motives  had  played  a  part;  but  the  pope  himself,  in 
company  with  the  sultan  of  Turkey,  had  refused  to  join 
the  alliance  because  it  was  based  upon  the  equal  rights  of 
the  several  Churches.  And  the  diplomats  of  the  Congress 
of  Vienna  were  quite  as  much  above  transcendental  weak- 
nesses as  the  fallen  emperor  whose  spoils  they  parted 
among  themselves.  In  all  the  bargaining  which  took 
place,  in  which  the  German  and  Italian  peoples  were 
treated  as  mere  geographical  ideas,  and  where  hardly  any 
but  such  political  creations  as  contradicted  the  nature  of 
things  could  count  upon  general  consent,  ecclesiastical 
levers  served  merely  as  means  to  an  end ;  and  religious 
aspirations  received  even  less  consideration  than  did  the 
interests  of  national  life. 

But  the  attempted  subjugation  and  gagging  of  the  in- 
dependent national  spirit  needed  for  its  effectiveness  the 

'  18 1 5,  between  the  emperors  of  Austria  and  Russia  and  the  king  of 
Prussia. 

By  this  act  the  three  sovereigns,  "having  reached  the  profound  convic- 
tion that  the  policy  of  the  powers,  in  their  mutual  relations,  ought  to  be 
guided  by  the  sublime  truths  taught  by  the  eternal  religion  of  God  our 
Saviour,  solemnly  declare  that  the  present  act  has  no  other  aim  than  to 
manifest  to  the  world  their  unchangeable  determination  to  adopt  no  other 
rule  of  conduct  .  .  .  than  the  precepts  of  that  holy  religion,  the  pre- 
cepts of  justice,  charity,  and  peace."  This  high  ideal  was  completely  belied 
by  subsequent  events,  which,  in  view  of  these  lofty  pretensions,  show  the 
extent  to  which  Christianity  may  be  abused  to  serve  base  purposes. 
Religion,  as  interpreted  by  the  sovereigns,  became  a  means  towards  reac- 
tion and  absolutism. 

This  very  interesting  document  may  be  read  in  full  in  the  Translations 
and  Reprints  from  the  Original  Sources  of  European  History,  published  by 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania  (series  of  1894). 


1 8  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Ccntitry 

spiritual  police  not  less  than  the  political,  and  the  only 
point  of  view  under  which  religion  was  of  any  value  con- 
sisted in  the  inculcation  of  blind  obedience  to  the  divine 
rights  of  the  privileged  orders.  For  this  purpose  the 
modus  operandi  of  the  Jesuit  order  proved  far  more  useful 
than  the  faith  of  the  Reformation, —  the  latter  resting 
upon  personal  conviction, —  and  the  Danish  historian 
Nielson '  aptly  characterises  the  kind  of  religion  which 
the  Congress  of  Vienna  recognised  when  he  distinguishes 
"  between  the  perfumed  court  and  congress-Christianity 
and  that  of  the  apostles  and  the  early  Church." 

So  far  as  the  result  was  concerned,  however,  it  mat- 
tered far  less  what  were  the  motives  by  which  the  eccle- 
siastical policy  of  the  Congress  was  guided  than  what  was 
the  disposition  of  the  political  rulers.  And  there  is  no 
doubt  that  this  was  the  most  favourable  possible  to  the 
pretensions  of  the  Papacy. 

We  have  also  to  consider,  as  a  matter  of  extreme  im- 
portance, the  attitude  of  the  restored  Papacy  towards  the 
conditions  and  problems  of  the  time.  The  pope  might 
have  taken  the  same  stand  as  his  predecessors  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  who  knew  how  to  assume  the  leadership 
and  give  direction  to  the  leading  ideas  of  the  time. 
Could  not,  therefore,  the  pope  even  now  place  himself  at 
the  head  of  the  great  national  movements  and  thereby 
once  more  gain  a  controlling  influence  ?  With  the  wide- 
spread demand  for  a  reconciliation  of  the  old  and  the 
new,  for  constitutions  and  popular  representations,  was 
not  the  opportunity  given  into  his  hand  of  making  him- 
self master  of  this  tendency,  and  as  supreme  shepherd 
calling  upon  the  princes  for  the  fulfilment  of  this  de- 
mand ?  Could  he  not  in  this  way  have  won  the  lasting 
sympathy  of  the  nations,  following  the  example  of  the 

'  History  of  the  Papacy  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  translated  into  Ger- 
man— a  very  excellent  work. 


The  Restoration  of  Phis  VII.  19 

powerful  popes  of  the  Middle  Ages,  in  the  struggle  of 
princes  and  peoples  ?  This  is  the  question  which  Ger- 
vinus  puts. 

Let  us  add  to  the  question  put  by  this  illustrious 
historian  his  own  answer.  In  the  Middle  Ages  it  was 
possible  for  the  pope  to  stand  at  the  head  of  the  spiritual 
movement,  because  the  whole  civilisation  of  the  Middle 
Ages  was  nourished  and  supported  by  the  Church.  At 
that  time  it  was  perfectly  natural  that  the  pope  should 
make  himself  the  herald  of  the  ruling  sympathies  and 
antipathies,  and  that  by  calling  men  to  war  for  the  glory 
of  God  and  of  the  Church  he  should  render  himself  ter- 
rible to  all  temporal  princes,  and  that  he  should  reap 
popularity  by  his  efforts. 

But  now,  such  identity  of  interests  between  people  and 
pope  was  simply  impossible.  The  Papacy  was  by  its 
whole  tendency  since  the  Reformation  too  closely  identi- 
fied with  opinions  opposed  to  the  popular  wishes,  and  the 
dominant  liberalism  was  intimately  associated  with  a  freer 
way  of  thinking  in  religion  ;  for  the  enjoyment  of  political 
liberty  led  to  the  desire  for  ecclesiastical  liberty,  and 
among  a  free  people  no  limits  could  be  set  to  enlighten- 
ment. Thus  the  restored  Papacy  must  consistently  with 
its  own  character  assume  a  reactionary  attitude  towards 
all  the  popular  aspirations  of  the  time. 

But  the  opposition  of  the  Papacy  to  political  liberal- 
ism, to  the  demand  for  popular  representation  and  similar 
measures  was,  after  all,  a  mere  incident  in  the  general 
stand  which  it  took  and  by  which  it  expressed  its  un- 
wavering enmity  to  the  modern  world  of  ideas.  In- 
deed, the  Papacy  was  never  consistent  in  its  opposition 
to  any  one  set  of  ideas  or  any  one  institution.  We  shall 
find  hardly  any  political  or  social  movement  with  which 
the  Papacy  has  not  entered  into  some  sort  of  alliance  in 
order  to  make  it  useful  to  its  own  purposes.     We  find 


20  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

even  an  approach  to  the  political-Hberal  tendencies  of  the 
times,  as  the  reigns  of  Clement  XIV.  and  Pius  VI.  (the 
latter  at  least  in  its  first  half)  prove.  Even  Pius  VII. 
personally,  as  bishop  of  Imola,  had  made  considerable 
concessions  to  the  Revolution;  Napoleon  characterised 
the  sermon  which  he  preached  touching  the  invasion  of 
the  French  in  1797,  as  a  Jacobite  sermon. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  in  order  to  discover  what 
is  essential  and  fundamental  in  the  character  of  the  re- 
stored Papacy,  we  must  go  deeper;  and  we  shall  not 
understand  the  Papacy,  with  all  its  religious  and  ecclesias- 
tical pretensions,  until  we  have  learned  to  recognise  in  it 
the  revival  of  the  old  Roman  caesarism  under  the  name 
of  St.  Peter,  claiming  sovereign  rights  over  land  and 
people,  so  that  all  concessions  and  gifts  made  to  the 
Papacy  were  in  reality  only  a  restitution  of  what  was 
rightly  its  own,  and  had  been  only  for  a  time  alienated. 
And  under  the  ecclesiastical  mask  of  this  new  caesarism 
there  was  included  that  absolutism  in  the  religious  sphere 
which  denied  the  right  of  every  adverse  opinion. 

Since  the  era  of  "  Illumination  "  '  there  had  been  less 
antagonism  than  ever  between  the  original  Catholic  ideal 
of  Christian  universalism  and  the  Protestant  principle  of 
Christian  individualism.  But  so  soon  as  the  restoration 
had  given  it  a  free  hand,  papal  absolutism  was  forced  in 
consistency  with  its  own  character  to  wage  a  war  of  ex- 
termination against  so-called  heresy.  Its  opposition  to 
constitutionalism  and  liberalism  was  only  the  result  of 
this  ecclesiastical  absolutism.  And  in  obedience  to  the 
same  impulse  the  Church  placed  itself  in  antagonism  to 
the  principles  of  free  scientific  research ;  for  the  latter 
would  appear  just  as  dangerous  as  the  spirit  of  a  pure  and 

'"Illumination,"  or  "  illuminism  "  {Aufkldrung),  denotes  the  general 
intellectual  movement  in  Germany  towards  the  end  of  the  last  century, 
which  was  characterised  by  great  activity  of  thought  and  a  breaking  away 
from  ancient  traditions. 


The  Restoration  of  Pius  VII,  2 1 

free  religion  to  a  power  whose  entire  growth  rested  upon 
a  chain  of  the  most  outrageous  deceptions. 

The  endeavour  to  destroy  nonconformists  by  force  had 
become  so  entirely  second  nature  to  the  Papacy  that  even 
amid  the  storms  of  the  Revolution  every  moment  favour- 
able to  this  purpose  was  used.  Gallicans  and  Theophi- 
lanthropists '  were  the  first  victims.  Immediately  after 
Consalvi's  departure  with  the  new  French  concordat 
(1801),  the  national  synod  of  the  French  Church  was  dis- 
solved, and  the  first  announcement  with  which  Talleyrand 
greeted  the  new  nuncio,  Caprara,  was  that  the  public 
worship  of  the  Theophilanthropists  had  been  closed. 
Among  the  papal  conditions  of  the  emperor's  coronation 
one  of  the  first  had  been  the  demand  that  Catholicism 
should  be  declared  once  more  the  ruling  religion  of  the 
state.  This  rude  insult  to  the  ideas  of  1789  failed  of 
being  put  into  effect.  But  the  clergy  of  the  Revolution 
were  obliged  to  render  a  humiliating  recantation,  and  the 
right  to  preach  was  taken  from  married  priests,  who  thus 
were  as  far  as  possible  deprived  of  their  means  of  exist- 
ence. Similar  measures  were  attempted  outside  of 
France.  When,  with  the  accession  of  King  Louis  Na- 
poleon, Roman  influences  had  gained  the  upper  hand  in 
the  Netherlands,  an  attempt  was  made  to  deprive  the  old 
Catholic  Episcopal  Church  of  its  bishops.  The  difference 
between  the  epoch  of  restoration  and  the  years  of  revolu- 
tion consists  therefore  only  in  this,  that  oppression  and 
persecution,  which  had  been  sporadic  and  temporary,  after 
the  Restoration  became  the  ruling  principle  which  de- 
termined the  development  of  the  whole  following  period. 

For  a  short  time  it  seemed  as  if  at  least  the  most  gen- 
eral reforms  which  followed  the  French  domination  —  in 
spite  of  its  revolutionary  and  anti-national  character  — 
would  meet  with  toleration  in  Rome.  At  first  there  was 
some  talk  of  the  necessity  of  administrative  improvement 

'  A  sect  formed  in  France  in  1796. 


2  2  The  Papacy  171  the  igth  Century 

and  the  reform  of  abuses  in  ecclesiastical  orders,  but  only 
too  soon  were  such  efforts  branded  as  revolutionary  tend- 
encies. And  more  and  more  the  restored  papal  rule 
inclined  to  recognise  as  valid  only  the  old  condition  of 
things  before  the  Revolution  and  before  the  era  of 
Illumination. 

Nevertheless,  in  comparison  with  the  reign  of  his  suc- 
cessors, that  of  Pius  VII.  enjoys,  with  those  who  allow 
themselves  to  be  deluded  by  the  sound  of  words,  the 
name  of  a  liberal  government.  The  cardinals  were 
divided  into  two  parties,  the  Zelanti  and  the  Liberali. 
It  was  the  latter  party  which,  through  Consalvi,  who  was 
again  made  secretary  of  state,  gave  its  name  to  the  papal 
policy  under  Pius  VII.  It  is  extremely  important,  how- 
ever, not  to  be  misled  in  our  judgment  by  a  foreign  use 
of  language.  For  both  parties  were  equally  representa- 
tive of  the  specifically  papal  idea;  both  stood  with  equal 
emphasis  for  the  immutability  of  the  papal  Church  sys- 
tem ;  both  were  equally  unwilling  to  give  up  any  former 
claims.  The  Liberali  were  only  inclined  to  momentary 
concessions  in  consideration  of  the  conditions  and  needs 
of  the  present,  although  they  were  careful  to  make  their 
concessions  so  prudently  that  the  appearance  of  papal 
infallibility  did  not  suffer.  The  Zelanti,  on  the  other 
hand,  clung  to  the  most  antiquated  pretensions  and 
would  give  their  consent  to  no  kind  of  sacrifice;  they 
knew  but  one  object  —  unconditioned  restoration  of  the 
old. 

The  latter  outnumbered  their  opponents  in  the  restored 
Curia  from  the  beginning,  and  their  chief,  Cardinal  Pacca, 
enjoyed  to  a  high  degree  the  confidence  of  the  pope.  But 
no  less  did  Consalvi  stand  well  in  the  latter's  favour;  his 
wise  statesmanship  had  made  him  indispensable.  And 
so  the  play  of  intrigue,  which  was  never  absent  in  the 
Curia,  revolved  about  the  greater  or  less  influence  of  these 
two  factions,  although  they  were  in  perfect  agreement 


The  Rcstoratio?i  of  Pius  VI I.  23 

as  to  the  ultimate  end.  During  Consalvi's  absence, 
as  ambassador  of  the  pope  in  England  and  at  the  Con- 
gress of  Vienna,  the  Zelanti  had  a  freer  hand.  But  even 
after  his  return,  when  he  again  took  the  control  of  affairs, 
the  spirit  of  the  government  remained  the  same,  and  the 
liberal  phraseology  of  which  Consalvi  was  master,  while 
all  illiberal  measures  were  put  upon  others,  served  only 
to  deceive  good-natured  and  ignorant  people  as  to  the 
real  ends  sought. 

Among  the  diplomats  of  the  nineteenth  century  Con- 
salvi may  claim,  with  Talleyrand  and  Metternich,  a  place 
in  the  first  rank.  His  early  education  —  as  the  special 
protege  of  Cardinal  York,  the  last  legitimate  successor  of 
James  II. — had  initiated  him  in  political  secrets.  Not 
long  afterwards,  in  the  social  circle  of  the  exiled  aunts  of 
Louis  XVI.,  he  had  entered  into  close  relations  with  the 
most  influential  representatives  of  the  opposition  to  the 
Revolution.  As  the  secretary  of  the  conclave  at  Venice 
(which  elected  Pius  VII.),  he  had  his  first  opportunity  of 
showing  his  diplomatic  skill.  He  appealed  simultaneously 
to  the  protection  of  Austria  and  Russia,  wrote  to  the 
nominal  king,  Louis  XVIII. ,  and  understood  how  to 
neutralise  the  suspicion  of  the  republican  leaders. 

When  he  returned  to  Rome,  Pius  VII.  made  him  his 
secretary  of  state.  Immediately  afterwards,  when  the 
French  concordat  was  drawn,  he  showed  his  strategical 
dexterity.  The  celebrated  contradictions  between  the 
despatches  which  he  wrote  then  and  the  memoirs  drawn 
up  during  the  later  conflict  with  Napoleon  have  given 
much  occupation  to  the  learned  world.  The  attempts  to 
solve  these  contradictions  start  from  the  naive  presump- 
tion that  for  Consalvi  language  served  another  purpose 
than  for  Talleyrand. 

Yet  a  peculiar  value  attaches  to  these  memoirs  for  the 
expressions  they  contain  of  the  author's  bitter  animosity 


24  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

against  Napoleon.  It  was  owing  to  this  very  feeling  that 
soon  after  the  fall  of  Napoleon  Consalvi  became  most  in- 
fluential among  the  allies.  He  was  assiduous  in  cultivat- 
ing the  relations  with  England  which  he  had  entered  into 
in  his  younger  years  (through  the  mediation  of  Cardinal 
York),  so  that  English  statesmen  took  him  into  their 
confidence,  and  that  even  in  the  divorce  trial  of  Queen 
Caroline  he  officiated  as  the  confidant  of  the  court. 

But  his  greatest  services,  next  to  the  French  concordat, 
belonged  to  the  Congress  of  Vienna;  here  he  not  only 
took  formal  precedence  of  all  other  ministers,  but  his 
intimate  relations  with  the  leaders  of  Austrian  and  French 
politics,  his  amiable  flatteries  for  the  representatives  of 
Russia  and  England,  the  prudent  use  he  made  of  the 
ladies'  salons,  gave  him  a  decisive  influence  in  the  most 
important  questions.  His  celebrated  note  of  the  23d 
of  October,  1814,  in  which  he  demanded  the  re-establish- 
ment of  the  Papacy  in  its  full  possessions,  including 
Avignon,  made  impossible  demands;  but  it  certainly 
effected  a  richer  harvest  at  the  final  settlement.  And 
the  non-fulfilment  of  the  other  claims  gave  occasion  to  a 
protest  similar  to  that  once  made  against  the  peace  of 
Westphalia, — protests  which  not  only  belong  to  the  nature 
of  the  so-called  Curial  language,  but  which,  as  soon  as 
the  favourable  moment  has  come,  are  made  the  basis  of 
new  claims  on  the  part  of  the  Papacy,  which  never  de- 
sists from  its  divine  rights,  and  is  therefore  infallible. 

Upon  his  return  from  the  congress  Consalvi  once  more 
took  the  headship  of  the  Roman  government.  The  pro- 
test which  he  had  made  in  Vienna  was  still  more  impress- 
ively repeated  in  a  papal  allocution.  In  the  restored 
states  of  the  Church  the  same  administration  continued 
as  during  his  absence.  After  the  restoration  of  the 
temporal  power  of  the  pope,  Italy  was  looked  upon  and 
treated  as  a  conquered  land,  of  which  the  powers  at 
Vienna  disposed  with  sovereign  authority. 


The  Restoration  of  Phis  VI I.  25 

The  dexterous  hand  of  Consalvi  is  traceable  in  the  re- 
jection of  the  endeavours  which  the  noblest  and  the  most 
devoted  German  Catholics  made  for  a  more  closely  united 
German  national  church,  in  the  restrictions  placed  upon 
the  liberty  of  the  press,  and  in  the  interference  in  the 
affairs  of  the  German  Confederation.  The  fine,  smooth 
handwriting  of  his  letters  is,  indeed,  characteristic  of  this 
smooth  diplomat,  to  whom  the  Romans  themselves  gave 
the  name  of  Siren,  and  who  understood  admirably  how 
to  make  the  most  of  the  fable  of  a  liberal  Papacy.  And 
the  master's  dexterity  was  shown  by  his  pupils:  above 
all,  Bernetti  and  Capaccini,  whose  heartiness  and  bon. 
Jiommie  delighted  the  diplomats,  while  they  made  every 
effort  to  nullify  the  inner-Catholic  reform  aspirations, 
quite  after  the  manner  of  Loyola. 

As  to  the  reform  notions  of  Consalvi,  so  highly  praised 
by  Niebuhr  and  Ranke,  there  remains  no  more  doubt 
about  their  true  value  since  Curci's^  remarkable  revela- 
tion concerning  the  suppressed  plan  of  reform  made  by 
Cardinal  Sala.  During  Consalvi's  absence  in  the  year 
181 5,  Sala  had  rewritten  and  begun  to  publish  his  funda- 
mental propositions  {Piano  di  riforma  umiliato  a  Pio  VII.). 
Consalvi  had  all  the  copies  destroyed.  The  greater  part 
of  the  work  is  completely  lost ;  only  an  extract  from  a 
small  part  has  become  known,  through  the  memoirs  of 
Sala,  published  in  1880,  by  Professor  Cugnoni.'^  The 
only  reason  for  this  action  on  the  part  of  Consalvi  appears 
to  have  been  his  fear  that  the  author  might  become  dan- 
gerous to  himself.  Sala's  propositions  give  evidence  of 
superior  ability.  Curci  adds  to  his  account  of  this  chap- 
ter of  history  the  significant  sentence:  "  To  such  miser- 
able jealousies  does  God  sometimes  grant  the  decision 

'  A  Jesuit,  expelled  from  the  order  ;  wrote  on  the  relations  of  Church  and 
State,  upholding  Italian  nationality  ;  suspended  ;  submitted,  and  was  re- 
conciled in  1SS4. 

'^  Alemorie  della  vita  e  degli  scriiti  dei  card.  G.  A,  Sala,  iSSo. 


26  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  CejittLry 

concerning  the  highest  interests  of  the  Church   and   of 
Rome," 

In  contrast  to  Consalvi  and  his  party,  Cardinal  Pacca, 
the  head  of  the  opposite  party,  has  the  reputation  of 
an  eager  zealot.  The  real  difference  lies  perhaps  in  his 
greater  honesty  and  frankness.  At  least  the  hatred 
which  he  cherished  to  the  Revolution  and  to  all  that  he 
confounded  with  it  did  not  make  him  blind  to  the  imper- 
fections of  the  Church,  On  the  other  hand,  his  own  ex- 
periences would  naturally  lead  him  to  view  in  the  same 
light  Revolution  and  Illuminism  or  the  tendency  towards 
national  churches. 

As  nuncio  in  Cologne,  hardly  twenty-five  years  old,  he 
had  been  able  to  counteract  the  Punctations  of  Ems '  by 
awakening  the  jealousy  of  the  bishops  against  the  arch- 
bishops. The  university  of  Bonn,  founded  by  the  arch- 
bishop of  Cologne,  as  well  as  the  diocesan  synod  called 
by  his  colleague  of  Mainz, ^  with  the  enlightened  teachers 
of  the  one  and  radical  reform  tendencies  of  the  other, 
found  in  him  an  energetic  opponent.  He  foresaw  the 
fate  of  the  pre-revolutionary  Church  more  clearly  than 
others,  and  for  that  very  reason  demanded  all  the  more 
thoroughgoing  energy,  and  would  know  nothing  of  half- 
measures  or  of  forbearance  towards  other  forms  of  belief. 
The  arguments  by  which  the  restoration  of  the  order  of 
Jesuits  was  pushed  are  traced  to  his  inspiration.     And 

'  A  conflict  between  the  pope  and  the  archbishops  of  Germany  was  occa- 
sioned by  the  assumptions  of  the  nuncios.  At  the  Congress  of  Ems  in  1786 
the  archbishops  of  Mayence,  Treves,  Cologne,  and  Salzburg  demanded  the 
old  episcopal  rights  ;  conceded  to  the  pope  only  the  primacy  of  honour ; 
denied  appeals  to  him  ;  and  demanded  the  abolition  of  the  nuncios.  This 
act  was  called  the  "  Punctation  of  Ems." 

^  This  synod  discussed  a  partial  abolition  of  clerical  celibacy  ;  only  those 
that  had  the  cure  of  souls  were  to  be  bound  to  celibacy  ;  the  use  of  the  ver- 
nacular in  the  Church  service,  restriction  of  the  adoration  of  saints,  the 
reading  of  the  Bible  and  the  repeal  of  the  existing  law  against  it  were  also 
treated. 


The  Restoration  of  Pms  VII.  27 

with  all  this,  we  find  nowhere  such  a  lack  of  higher  con- 
siderations, especially  of  religious  ideas, — such  as  charac- 
terises the  curialistic  diplomacy  in  general, —  as  in  the 
memoirs  of  Pacca. 

Standing  in  the  middle  between  the  two  diplomats,  of 
whom  one  represented  a  watchful  prudence,  the  other  an 
energetic  aggressiveness,  Pius  VII.  comes  personally  to 
the  front  only  when  it  was  intended  to  make  an  impres- 
sion through  his  mild,  amiable  personality.  In  early  life 
he  had  suffered  severe  trials;  as  bishop  of  Tivoli  he  had 
devoted  himself  to  an  ascetic  piety.  The  sermon  which 
he  preached  at  the  entrance  of  the  French  into  Imola,' 
and  the  concessions  which  he  had  made  during  his  im- 
prisonment, had  drawn  bitter  words  from  De  Maistre. 
But  when  he  returned  to  Rome,  he  was  looked  upon  as 
an  unflinching  martyr. 

It  is  not  on  record  that  his  piety  ever  took  offence  at 
the  means  which  his  political  advisers  considered  neces- 
sary. On  the  other  hand,  every  single  country  was  soon 
made  to  feel  that  the  old  curialistic  spirit  again  ruled  in 
the  Vatican.  In  Rome  all  sails  were  set  to  make  the 
best  of  the  favourable  wind.  Rarely  (so  says  Gervinus) 
has  the  Vatican  proved  its  old  accustomed  all-seeing 
activity  and  its  dexterity  in  seizing  the  right  moment 
better  than  at  this  time. 

As  the  first  result  of  the  restoration  of  the  Papacy  there 
meets  us  the  re-establishment,  though  now  only  for  the 
states  of  the  Church,  of  the  old  congregations  of  car- 
dinals. First  of  all,  that  of  the  Index  and  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion. The  congregation  of  the  Index  in  181 5  forbade 
all  political  books.  The  same  fate  befell  even  Alfieri's 
patriotic  poems.  In  the  congregation  of  the  Inquisition 
there  were  in  a  short  time  724  charges  of  heresy  pending. 
After  these  congregations  had  been  again  set  up  came 

'  See  page  20. 


28  1  he  Papacy  in  the  igtJi  Century 

the  turn  of  the  dissolved  monasteries.  By  a  single  edict 
there  were  restored  1824  monasteries  and  622  nunneries. 
The  founding  of  new  institutions  soon  assumed  ahnost 
greater  dimensions  than  in  those  epochs  of  flourishing 
monasticism  which  are  illustrated  by  the  names  of  the 
Benedictines,  the  Cluniacs,  the  begging  friars,  and  the 
legion  of  orders  which  arose  in  the  struggle  with  the  Re- 
formation. 

Of  a  similar  character  were  the  prohibitions  and  con- 
demnations which  accompanied  these  measures.  The 
larger  part  was  directed  against  the  freemasons.  And  in 
a  class  with  the  secret  associations  were  placed  the  Bible 
societies  that  had  arisen  during  the  last  ten  or  twenty 
years.  The  first  official  condemnation  of  the  latter, 
which  was  subsequently  followed  by  a  series  of  others, 
finally  put  together  in  the  Syllabus  of  1864,  is  pronounced 
in  the  briefs  of  July  29  and  September  3,  1814,  sent  to  the 
archbishops  of  Gnesen  and  of  Mohilew.  In  these  dioceses 
a  new  translation  of  the  Bible  had  been  spread,  one  of  the 
translations  into  all  the  Russian  dialects  made  by  the  aid 
of  Alexander  I.  There  is  hardly  a  sharper  contrast  con- 
ceivable than  that  between  this  Russian  emperor,  seeking 
to  make  the  word  of  salvation  accessible  to  his  subjects, 
and  the  so-called  vicar  of  Christ  in  Rome,  who  forbade  it 
to  laymen.  The  Bible  societies  are  characterised  by 
Pius  as 

a  pest,  godless  machinations  of  innovators,  a  crafty  invention 
to  shake  the  foundations  of  religion,  a  new  kind  of  tares  which 
the  enemy  has  sown.  .  .  .  The  people  are  to  be  warned, 
that  they  may  not  fall  into  the  traps  which  are  prepared  for 
them  to  their  eternal  perdition.  It  is  for  the  common  welfare 
that  such  attempts,  which  are  made  by  its  enemies  for  the  de- 
struction of  holy  religion,  be  frustrated.  The  translations  of 
Holy  Scripture  in  general  do  more  harm  than  good,  and  none 
is  to  be  tolerated  which  is  not  sanctioned  by  the  Holy  See  and 
furnished  with  explanations  by  the  Church-fathers. 


The  Restoratio7i  of  Phis  VII.  29 

The  restored  Papacy  could  not  define  its  "  religious" 
tendency  more  distinctly  than  by  this  anathema  upon 
the  reading  of  the  Bible.  The  examples  which  Pius 
herein  followed  are  unmistakable.  Innocent  III.  (1198- 
1216),  the  greatest  world-ruler  among  the  popes,  had 
given  the  first  prohibition  of  Bibles,  and  a  few  years  later 
the  synod  of  Toulouse  (1229) — and  this  was  the  most 
significant  of  all  its  proceedings  against  the  Albigenses 
and  Waldenses — had  anathematised  the  reading  of  the 
Bible  by  the  laity.  After  this,  it  was  not  until  the  era 
of  the  counter-Reformation  that  similar  measures  were 
again  taken.  The  anti-Protestant  decrees  of  the  Council 
of  Trent  concerning  the  Bible,  its  reading  and  interpreta- 
tion, were  soon  followed  by  the  first  edition  of  the  Index 
under  the  authority  of  Pius  IV.  (1564),  in  which  the  read- 
ing of  the  new  translations  of  the  Bible  in  the  vernacu- 
lar was  threatened  with  eternal  damnation.  After  this, 
it  is  not  until  the  time  of  the  Jansenist  disputes  that  we 
meet  with  equally  decided  expressions  of  enmity  to  the 
Bible,  in  the  most  notable  of  the  bulls  directed  against 
the    inner-Catholic    reformation — the    Unigenitus    bull 

(1715). 

On  the  other  hand,  in  the  period  of  the  Illumination  at 
the  end  of  the  last  century,  even  among  Catholic  popula- 
tions, the  Bible  had  been  spread  abroad  through  the  in- 
fluence of  the  bishops,  who  at  that  time  were  more 
Christian  Catholic  than  Roman  Catholic;  and  the  re- 
ligious revival  which  in  England  and  America  represented 
the  counterpart  of  Continental  revolutionary  tenden- 
cies, had,  by  means  of  various  religious  associations, 
produced  a  marked  effect  among  foreign  Catholics. 
Against  this  danger  Pius,  after  his  return,  thought  it 
necessary  to  make  his  first  stand,  and  he  took  up  again 
the  policy  of  Innocent  III.  Following  it,  he  thought 
himself  able  to  cope  with  Revolution  and  Reformation. 

But  even  the  condemnation  of  Bible  societies  might 


30  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

appear  as  an  isolated  event,  of  more  theoretical  than 
practical  significance.  That  which  gave  to  the  restora- 
tion of  Pius  VII.  for  all  time  its  ominous  significance 
was  the  first  act  of  world-wide  importance  which  he 
undertook  after  his  return — the  restoration  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus.  For  not  only  was  this,  far  more  than  the  pro- 
hibition of  the  Bible,  an  unmistakable  sign  of  the  spirit 
in  which  the  renewed  Papacy  undertook  its  task;  we  see 
in  the  influence  which  the  Society  at  once  began  to  exert 
upon  all  conditions  the  source  of  that  great  stream  which 
drew  the  entire  further  development  of  Catholicism  into 
its  current.  It  will  therefore  be  our  next  task  to  trace 
this  stream  in  its  many  windings. 

From  the  same  source  we  shall  observe  a  second  stream 
to  flow,  which  drew  European  and  non- European  coun- 
tries alike  within  the  sphere  of  the  Curia's  power.  The 
concordats  which  followed  under  the  same  pope  have 
exerted  a  hardly  less  intense  influence  upon  the  relations 
of  Church  and  State  than  the  restoration  of  the  Jesuits 
exerted  upon  the  development  of  the  Church. 

And  besides  these  two  tendencies  we  should  not  forget 
a  third,  which,  beginning  at  the  same  time,  powerfully 
affected  the  development  of  the  religious  life  of  the 
people  under  the  dominion  of  the  Jesuits  and  of  the  con- 
cordats :  the  alienation  of  the  life  of  the  people  from  the 
Church  which  outwardly  ruled  it.  And  here,  too,  we  can 
trace  in  one  single  sphere  the  type  of  what  happened 
in  all  countries  influenced  by  the  Vatican ;  for  there  is 
no  place  where  the  moral  nature  of  the  restored  Papacy 
appears  so  distinctly  as  in  the  states  of  the  Church. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   RESTORATION  AND   RENEWED   EXPANSION  OF   THE 
ORDER   OF   JESUITS 

ON  the  24th  of  May,  18 14,  Pius  VII.  arrived  in  Rome. 
On  the  7th  of  August  of  the  same  year  he  went  in 
solemn  procession  and  —  as  Pacca  tells  us  —  amid  the 
acclamations  of  the  multitude  to  the  Church  of  the 
Jesuits,  and  there  read  mass  at  the  altar  of  St.  Ignatius. 
Immediately  afterwards,  in  the  neighbouring  oratory,  in 
the  presence  of  numerous  cardinals  and  bishops  and  of  the 
Sicilian  Jesuits  and  their  provincial,  the  pope  caused  the 
master  of  ceremonies  to  read  the  bull,  Solicitudo  omnium 
ecclesiarum. 


The  care  of  the  churches  confided  to  him  lays  upon  him 
the  duty  of  using  all  the  means  in  his  power  to  meet  the 
spiritual  needs  of  Christendom.  Since  for  this  reason,  by 
the  briefs  of  May  7,  1801,  and  July  13,  1804,  the  Society 
of  Jesus  had  again  been  sanctioned  in  Russia  and  in  the 
kingdom  of  both  Sicilies,  the  unanimous  wish  of  almost  all 
Christendom  has  caused  active  and  energetic  demands  to 
be  made  for  the  general  restoration  of  the  order;  especially 
since  there  have  been  diffused  on  all  hands  the  very  abundant 
fruits  which  the  Society  has  produced  in  those  regions  where  it 
existed.  The  scattered  stones  of  the  temple  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  discipline,  caused  by  the  late  calamities  and  misfortunes, 
demanded  his  consent  to  such  unanimous  and  right  wishes. 
He  would  become  partaker  in  grievous  sin  towards  God,  if  in 

31 


32  The  Papacy  m  the  igth  Century 

the  midst  of  the  heavy  storms  which  were  raging  round  the 
vessel  of  Peter  he  turned  away  the  strong  and  experienced 
rowers  who  offered  themselves  to  break  through  the  raging 
billows  which  every  moment  threatened  inevitable  ruin. 
Therefore  he  had  resolved  to  carry  out  what  had  been  his 
dearest  wish  since  his  elevation  to  the  apostolic  throne  and  by 
his  present  irrevocable  decree  commands  that  the  orders  be- 
fore given  touching  Russia  and  both  Sicilies  should  from  this 
moment  be  extended  to  all  parts  of  the  states  of  the  Church  as 
well  as  to  all  other  states  and  dominions.  This  decree  shall 
remain  for  all  time  unchangeable  and  inviolable;  any  action 
contrary  thereto,  proceeding  from  any  person  whatsoever,  is 
declared  to  be  null  and  void,  and  especially  is  the  decree  of 
Clement  XIV.  pronounced  invalid  and  of  no  application. 

We  should  not  omit  to  note  the  remarkable  contrast 
between  the  ex  catliedra  decree  of  Pius  VII.  and  the  ex 
cathedra  decree  of  Clement  XIV.  of  July  21,  1771.  For 
after  Clement  XIV.  had  expressly  ordered  that  no  re- 
storation of  the  order  should  ever  be  valid,  Pius  never- 
theless undertook  this  restoration.  But  aside  from  this, 
it  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  of  a  more  decided  con- 
trast than  that  presented  by  the  reference  of  the  one 
pope  to  the  petitions  addressed  to  him  from  all  sides  for 
dissolution  and  the  appeal  of  the  other  to  petitions  like- 
wise directed  to  him  from  all  sides  for  restoration,  than 
between  the  picture  which  one  draws  of  the  good  fruits 
of  the  order  and  that  which  the  other  presents  of  its  evil 
deeds  and  its  abominable  sentiments. 

These  violent  contrasts,  however,  in  the  verdicts  of  two 
equally  infallible  popes  admit  of  a  simple  explanation,  if 
v/e  bear  in  mind  the  great  change  in  the  spirit  of  the 
times  brought  about  by  the  intervening  Revolution.  It 
was  simply  the  fruit  of  the  Revolution  which  fell  into  the 
lap  of  the  order  as  well  as  of  the  Papacy. 

In  our  time  it  may  seem  peculiar  to  the  candid  student 
of  history  that  men  suddenly  seemed  to  recognise  the 


The  Restoration  of  the  Jesuits  33 

deliverer  from  the  Revolution  in  the  same  order  which 
by  its  war  of  extermination  against  Huguenots  and  Jan- 
senists  had  been  chiefly  instrumental  in  preparing  the 
way  for  the  Revolution.  But  amid  the  terrors  of  the 
Revolution  its  underlying  causes  had  been  forgotten. 
Men  were  influenced  by  what  was  nearest,  and  the  reason- 
ing of  the  papal  brief  was  widely  echoed.  With  an  in- 
creasing sense  of  triumph  it  was  everywhere  published 
abroad  that  the  only  reason  why  the  insolent  philosophy 
of  the  century  had  risen  against  its  rulers  was  that  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  the  ancient  bulwark  of  throne  and  altar, 
had  been  destroyed,  and  these  had  thus  been  deprived 
of  their  surest  support.  Only  by  making  haste  to  raise 
from  its  grave  the  order  which  understood,  as  no  other 
body  did,  how  to  keep  the  people  in  obedience  to  their 
divinely  appointed  spiritual  and  temporal  shepherds,  was 
there  any  ground  to  hope  that  the  straying  might  be 
brought  back  and  the  faithful  preserved  from  infection 
by  the  revolutionary  poison. 

This  reasoning,  however,  was  not  allowed  to  pass 
wholly  without  contradiction.  In  a  manner  truly  pro- 
phetic, to  which  after-experiences  have  given  a  most  tell- 
ing force,  Wessenberg '  foretold  the  consequences  of  the 
restoration  of  the  Society: 

The  causes  why  the  order  of  the  Jesuits  in  its  modern  de- 
velopment is  wholly  irreconcilable  with  the  welfare  of  the 
Christian  Church  as  well  as  that  of  nations  and  of  the  agree- 
ment between  the  two,  are  so  numerous  and  of  such  force  that 

•  "  One  of  the  noblest  representatives  of  liberal  Catholicism  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  present  century  "  (Schaff-Herzog).  Appointed  vicar-general  of 
the  diocese  of  Constance.  Elected  bishop  of  Constance  in  1817,  the  pope 
refused  to  confirm  him,  and  he  retired  to  private  life.  "  The  reasons  of  the 
Curia's  aversion  to  him  were,  that  he  advocated  the  establishment  of  a  national 
church  of  Germany,  and  the  revival  of  general  councils,  and  that  as  vicar- 
general  he  had  introduced  the  German  language  into  the  liturgy  and  choir- 
singing  of  the  churches  of  his  dioceses,  and  sent  his  seminarists  to  Pestalozzi 
to  learn  the  new  method  of  instruction." 
3 


34  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Ccnhtry 

it  must  appear  in  the  highest  degree  astonishing,  that  the  heads 
of  states  should  now  again  see  in  the  order  a  powerful  support 
of  their  authority.  Its  principles  are  of  such  nature  that  they 
must  inevitably  corrupt  Christian  faith  and  morals  and  unsettle 
the  relation  of  Church  and  State.  All  kinds  of  unbelief, 
heathen  and  Pharisaic  opinions,  are  cherished  by  them.  The 
doctrine  of  probabilities,  of  the  reservatio  mentalis,  and  the 
sanctification  of  the  means  by  the  end,  of  the  invalidity  even 
of  oaths,  when  a  supposedly  higher  end  makes  this  probable, 
and  others,  which  the  order  has  invented  and  which  it  every- 
where maintains,  destroy  the  foundations  of  all  Christian 
morals.  The  Jesuit-ultramontane  doctrine  of  Church-law  is 
inconsistent  with  the  maintenance  of  any  real  secular  authority 
and  with  the  independence  of  national  government.  For  this 
order,  true  to  its  character  and  the  spirit  of  its  teaching,  as  the 
experience  of  centuries  proves,  aspires  to  an  universal  despot- 
ism over  all  minds,  over  all  organs  of  State  and  Church  life, 
so  that  none  but  a  stone-blind  man  can  fail  to  see  that  this 
order  is  the  most  mighty  and  the  most  dangerous  secret  society 
for  grasping  the  actual  power  of  Church  and  State.  Should 
the  order  succeed  in  again  winning  a  position  for  itself  in 
Germany,  we  may  look  forward  to  a  bitter  and  long  struggle 
of  light  with  darkness,  a  struggle  which  will  become  dangerous 
to  the  peace  of  the  Church  as  well  as  to  the  quiet  of  nations. 

Even  statesmen,  especially  Catholic  statesmen,  were 
at  this  time  not  so  friendly  to  the  Jesuits  as  they  after- 
wards became.  It  is  asserted  upon  good  authority  that 
in  the  beginning  Prince  Metternich  and  the  Emperor 
Francis  were  little  inclined  to  the  restoration  of  the 
order.  In  Bavaria  we  find  the  same  temper  prevailing, 
shared  even  by  the  romantic  crown  prince.  In  Italy  and 
in  Spain  the  order  met  with  serious  suspicion  from  all 
independent  men.  Portugal  and  Brazil  made  decided 
resistance  to  the  reception  of  the  follovvrers  of  Loyola. 
And  even  Consalvi  thought  it  prudent  to  give  evidence 
of  his  liberality  by  a  criticism  of  the  measures  adopted 
during  his  absence. 


The  Restoration  of  the  Jesuits  35 

But  the  world  stood  before  an  accomplished  fact.  The 
Vatican  had  executed  the  secretly  prepared  stroke,  and 
opposition  was  disarmed.  The  settlements  of  the  order, 
which  had  been  allowed  to  remain,  in  Russia  and  Sicily, 
had  already  served  as  stations  for  new  recruits.  The 
former  Russian  provincial,  Brzozowski,  had  only  to  as- 
sume the  name  of  general  in  order  to  connect  the  new 
with  the  old  organisation.  In  the  city  of  Rome  itself  a 
considerable  number  of  Jesuits  soon  came  together.  On 
the  very  day  that  the  Society  was  restored  it  received 
back  the  three  palaces  which  it  had  formerly  possessed  in 
Rome.  The  following  year  saw  the  foundation  of  new 
colleges  in  Viterbo,  Urbino,  Orvieto,  Ferrara,  Terni, 
Tivoli,  Fano,  Feventino,  and  Benevento. 

At  the  same  time  affiliated  orders  began  to  group 
themselves  around  the  Society.  The  orders  of  the 
Fathers  of  the  Faith  and  the  Redemptorists  and  the  con- 
gregations of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  formed  auxiliaries. 
Out  of  the  many  associations  with  masonic,  liberal,  and 
revolutionary  labels,  into  which  the  ex-Jesuits  had  re- 
tired, there  issued  new  congregations  for  all  classes  and 
strata  of  the  people,  but  all  placed  under  the  supreme 
direction  of  the  Company.  Even  the  older  monastic 
orders,  which  until  then  had  formed  a  counter-influence 
to  the  Jesuits,  one  after  another  succumbed  to  its  author- 
ity, and  were  obliged  to  modify  their  former  independent 
constitutions  according  to  the  Jesuit  model. 

It  is  a  problem  of  considerable  historical  importance  to 
trace  the  secret  activity  of  the  Company  in  the  interval 
between  its  dissolution  and  its  restoration ;  but  we  are 
still  without  the  requisite  data  for  even  an  approximate 
solution  of  this  problem.  The  most  important  plans  of  the 
leaders  have  very  rarely  been  intrusted  to  paper.  Only 
meagre  fragments  exist  of  contemporary  literature  during 
the  wars  of  the  Revolution,  in  which  there  is  any  mention 


36  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centttry 

of  the  attempts  repeatedly  made  under  Pius  VI.  for 
the  restoration  of  the  Jesuits.  We  should  not  even  know 
that  these  attempts  were  considerably  increased  immedi- 
ately after  the  enthronement  of  Pius  VII.,  if  he  had  not 
himself  testified  that  even  at  that  time  he  had  been 
favourable  to  the  idea.  And  all  that  is  known  to  us  of 
any  further  steps  taken  to  carry  out  the  plans  for  the 
restoration  of  the  order  is  the  promise  given  by  Pius 
upon  Pacca's  request  at  Fontainebleau,  August  7,  1812, 
to  restore  the  order  after  his  own  liberation.  But  al- 
though we  may  not  be  able  to  trace  the  devious  ways  in 
which  the  abettors  of  the  Jesuits  sought  to  accom.plish 
their  ends,  it  is  now  our  task,  as  with  the  old  order  so 
with  the  new,  to  learn  to  know  the  tree  by  its  fruits. 
These  very  soon  become  plain  enough. 

Since  the  restoration  of  the  order  the  Papacy  itself  has 
become  its  auxiliary  in  a  sense  different  from  before.  In 
the  history  of  Catholicism  from  1540  to  our  own  day 
popes  friendly  to  the  Jesuits  have  alternated  with  those 
who  were  opponents  of  their  tendencies.  The  act  of 
Pius  VII.,  however,  precluded  the  possibility  that 
another  Clement  XIV.  should  ever  lay  violent  hands 
upon  the  order;  and  under  the  reign  of  his  successors 
the  order  has  carried  out  one  by  one  the  plans  which  be- 
fore it  had  attempted  in  vain.  Any  possible  fluctuation 
of  the  papal  policy  in  the  future  has  now  been  provided 
against.  For  the  "  pious  opinions,"  of  which  none  had 
any  more  authority  than  any  other,  have  been  replaced 
by  formulated  "  dogmas  "  ;  the  condemnations,  hitherto 
isolated  and  without  system,  have  been  put  together  in 
the  system  of  the  Syllabus  of  Pius  IX. ;  the  ecumenical 
council,  which  to  the  Catholic  Church  of  old  stood  as  the 
highest  court  of  appeal,  has  been  obliged  to  pronounce 
its  own  abdication.  And  thus  the  Papacy,  made  infalli- 
ble and  declared  incapable  of  improvement,  has  been  de- 
graded to  the  level  of  the  Company  of  Jesus,  just  as  the 


The  Restoration  of  the  yesuits  37 

autocratic  caesarism  of  Rome  at  the  summit  of  its  ab- 
solutism became  the  prey  of  the  Praetorians. 

Along  with  the  Papacy,  the  bishops  also  succumbed 
to  the  rule  of  the  Jesuits,  although  not  till  after  long 
struggles.  The  opposition,  apparently  suppressed,  again 
and  again  gave  astonishing  signs  of  life.  But  all  these 
inner-Catholic  attempts  at  reform  have  always  been  de- 
feated by  Jesuit  strategy,  which  knew  how  to  find  abet- 
tors everywhere.  The  political  leaders  of  the  so-called 
Catholic  parties  could  soon  without  fear  of  contradiction 
identify  Catholicism  and  Jesuitism.  Bishops,  who  found 
their  support  not  in  their  dioceses  but  in  Rome,  main- 
tained that  a  good  Catholic  must  be  a  friend  of  the 
Jesuits,  and  characterised  every  act  of  self-defence  on 
the  part  of  Protestantism  against  the  eternal  war  which 
the  Jesuits  had  sworn  as  an  attack  upon  the  Catholic 
Church.      a..  J  • 

y  The  new '"border,  even  more  than  the  old,  threw  its 
energies  into  a  war  to  the  death  against  evangelical 
liberty  of  conscience.  The  battle  against  the  Revolution 
and  revolutionary  ideas  was  held  to  be  a  continuation  of 
the  old  battle  against  the  Reformation.]  In  order  to  sup- 
press the  former,  the  results  of  the  latter  were  marked  for 
destruction,  and  the  character  of  the  new  crusade  which 
the  order  at  once  inaugurated  against  the  Evangelical 
churches  is  in  nowise  distinguished  from  the  intrigues 
which  brought  about  the  Thirty  Years'  War  and  the 
revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes. 

It  has  been  elsewhere  asserted,'  with  entire  justice, 
that  all  abetment  and  recognition  of  the  principles  and 
the  activity  of  the  order  on  the  part  of  a  Protestant 
Christian  is  not  an  act  of  justice,  but  a  betrayal  of  his 
own  past  and  future  and  an  act  of  ethical  laxity.  And 
yet  there  are  among  the  rulers  of  the  Protestant  churches 
many  who  accept  the  designation  of  Protestant  Jesuits 

*  In  an  article  by  Steitz  in  Herzog's  Real-Enzyklopaedie,  vi. ,  p.  56. 


38  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Cenhiry 

as  an  honourable  one ;  and  in  the  war  of  extermination 
against  the  ancient  Catholic  traditions  the  order  is  now, 
as  formerly,  supported  by  the  ignorance  of  Protestant 
salesmen. 

{The  evidence  of  the  order's  activity  in  modern  society 
forces  upon  the  candid  observer  this  conclusion,  that 
there  is  no  more  significant  and  no  clearer  turning-point 
in  contemporary  history  than  the  restoration  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus.  |  And  we  find  evidence,  astonishingly 
soon,  not  only  of  the  spread  of  the  order's  influence,  but 
also  of  the  character  of  that  influence  upon  science  and 
religion. 

In  opposition  to  independent  research,  such  as  had 
begun  to  flourish,  especially  among  German  Catholics,  a 
new  scholasticism  was  taught  as  the  only  correct  theology. 
In  place  of  independent  and  impartial  historical  study, 
history  became  again  the  handmaid  of  polemics.  Awk- 
ward historical  documents  were  systematically  destroyed, 
and  a  very  extensive  literature  proceeding  from  the  Jesuit 
school  sought  to  preclude  the  reading  of  independent 
works. 

Antiquated  fanciful  cults  were  brought  forward  again. 
The  worship  of  the  Sacred  Heart  was  spread  through  all 
civilised  languages  by  means  of  "  living  rosaries  "  and 
"  monthly  roses  ";  the  Madonna  cult,  worship  of  relics, 
and  exorcisms,  first  performed  in  private,  then  more  and 
more  publicly,  were  accredited  by  miracles.  And  such 
systematic  externalisation  of  dogma  and  cult  was  soon 
followed  by  the  proper  ethical  fruits. 

The  parish  clergy  were  either  won  over  to  their  interest 
by  the  emissaries  of  the  order,  or,  where  they  would  not 
yield,  they  became  a  prey  to  the  worst  persecutions.  In 
Catholic  congregations,  the  civil  existence  of  all  who  did 
not  show  themselves  ready  to  identify  Jesuitism  and 
Catholicism  was  zealously  undermined,  and  a  disposition 
was  developed  towards  those  of  another  faith  which  made 


The  Restoration  of  the  Jesuits  39 

their  injury  and  defamation  appear  the  first  duty  of 
Christian  charity. 

The  new  order  followed  the  old  in  devoting  its  greatest 
activity  to  the  education  of  the  young,  to  the  training  up 
of  a  generation  devoted  to  its  own  interests.  To  this 
end  served,  as  before,  the  colleges  and  seminaries  for 
clerics,  who  upon  the  completion  of  the  course,  and  espe- 
cially at  the  taking  of  the  doctor's  oath,  vowed  fidelity  to 
the  order,  and  in  return,  if  they  appeared  at  all  useful, 
received  the  reversion  of  bishoprics,  canonries,  and  pro- 
fessorships. To  these  schools  for  the  clergy  were  soon 
added  all  kinds  of  institutions  for  the  training  of  youth, 
especially  for  the  children  of  the  higher  orders. 

It  was  particularly  for  the  latter  that  the  Jesuit  system 
of  study  was  calculated.  The  strict  coherence  of  the 
system,  its  logic  which  shrank  from  no  consequences,  the 
ready  judgment  concerning  everything  that  plays  any 
part  in  human  development,  and  in  general  the  stand- 
point of  infallibility :  all  this  was  calculated  to  impose 
upon  the  youthful  mind.  If  to  this  were  added  family 
traditions,  by  which  a  youth  saw  himself  called  to  a 
position  of  authority  over  the  servile,  unthinking  masses, 
we  need  not  be  surprised  to  find  the  modern  pupils  of  the 
Jesuits  spellbound  within  a  magic  circle,  just  as  was  the 
case  in  the  days  of  Ferdinand  II,  and  III.  and  the  Thirty 
Years'  War.  Among  the  first  of  these  institutions,  that 
of  Klinkowstroem  in  Vienna  deserves  mention,  which, 
however,  is  antedated  by  the  English  college  at  Stony- 
hurst. 

The  new  order  as  well  as  the  old  produced  a  consider- 
able number  of  able  specialists.  In  the  domain  of  the 
exact  sciences,  especially,  the  modern  Society  of  Jesuits 
counted  many  real  celebrities.  And  no  more  than  the 
learning,  is  the  ascetic  piety  of  many  individual  Jesuits 
to  be  undervalued  among  the  forces  over  which  the  lead- 
ers of  the  order  disposed.     In  the  precepts  of  Loyola 


40  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

himself,  together  with  a  fantastic  romanticism  and  a  cer- 
tain worldly  wisdom,  there  is  noticeable  the  manner  in 
which  his  thoughts  attach  themselves  to  the  words  of 
Jesus.  The  success  of  the  new  order  is  quite  unintel- 
ligible if  one  does  not  appreciate  the  whole  power  of  this 
enthusiastic  devotion. 

All  this  learning  and  piety,  however,  are  in  the  service 
of  a  system  which  not  only  presents  the  sharpest  contrast 
to  the  gospel  of  Jesus,  but  which  undermines  the  founda- 
tions of  all  morality.  It  is  no  mere  chance  that  the 
manual  of  Gury,  which  teaches  how  to  evade  the  moral 
law  and  how  to  defy  the  civil  laws,  has  become  the 
favourite  schoolbook  of  the  Jesuits  and  their  associates. 
And  Jesuit  morality  will  remain  proverbial  until  the  order 
succeeds  in  suppressing  the  sources  of  real  morality  in 
the  public  conscience. 

It  may  succeed  in  doing  this  if  the  independent  re- 
sponsibility of  conscience  is  sacrificed  to  an  infallible 
authority.  But  wherever  the  national  conscience  gains 
utterance,  it  will  always  express  itself  in  the  same  way  as 
It  did  in  the  laws  of  the  Swiss  confederation,  of  the  new 
German  empire,  and  of  the  French  republic.  We  must 
consider  the  decrees  of  these  national  representative 
bodies  as  a  moral  verdict  upon  the  order,  and  this  moral 
verdict  was  not  the  outcome  of  sectarian  polemics,  but  is 
based  upon  numerous  original  works  of  the  first  Catholic 
scholars,  which  set  before  us  the  real  fruits  of  the  re- 
newed as  well  as  of  the  dissolved  order.  Protestant 
representations  might  be  charged  with  sectarian  bias. 
But  such  a  picture  as  —  to  choose  one  out  of  many — 
Father  Curci  draws  of  the  Jesuit  "  fruits  "  is  even  less 
liable  to  a  reproach  of  this  kind  than  are  the  researches 
of  D5llinger. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  more  competent  judge  of 
the  order  than  Curci,'  —  for  forty  years  a  member,  the 
'  See  Chapter  I.,  page  25,  note  i. 


The  Restoration  of  the  ycsuits  41 

founder  of  the  principal  Jesuit  organ,  the  Civilta  Catho- 
lica,  and  the  writer  of  the  most  eloquent  defence  of  the 
order  against  the  attacks  of  Gioberti.  Even  after  his 
celebrated  proposals  for  reform  (rejected  by  Pius  IX., 
adopted  in  all  essential  points  by  Leo  XIII.),  Curci  de- 
clares expressly  that  he  does  not  give  up  his  former 
devotion  and  admiration  for  the  Society,  even  though 
with  bleeding  heart  he  must  make  public  the  causes  by 
which  the  order,  "  at  least  apparently,  has  become  the 
unhappy  cause  of  the  dire  evils  which  to-day  are  visited 
upon  the  Church  in  Italy."  But  this  historic  fact  forces 
him  (in  his  TJie  Nezv  Italy  and  the  Old  Zealots)  to  "  dis- 
close the  network  of  deceptions,  which  owes  its  power  to 
the  fact  that  it  is  hidden  and  little  known. "  An  arrogant 
and  superstitious  faith  in  its  power  and  perfection  has 
made  the  order  depraved  beyond  redemption. 

It  has  covered  with  its  authority  and  name  all  the  base  plans 
that  have  been  formed  and  executed  by  the  group  of  agitators 
and  ambitious  characters  to  the  injury  of  the  Church  and  the 
desecration  of  the  Holy  See,  and  so  has  stained  itself  with  one 
of  the  worst  blots  of  infamy  which  darken  history. 

A  large  share  of  the  blame,  Curci  thinks,  he  must  as- 
cribe to  his  former  organ,  the  Civilta  Catholica.  On  the 
methods  of  Roman  journalism  generally  (including  those 
of  the  Jesuit  press-bureau)  he  makes  this  remark: 

Its  character  is  such  that  in  time  it  destroys  in  the  soul 
of  the  reader  all  respect  for  truth,  one  might  almost  say,  for 
justice,  and  drags  him  down  to  the  level  of  all  kinds  of  falsifi- 
cations and  juggleries  and  sophistries  and  calumnies  and  invec- 
tives, and  especially  to  the  level  of  its  own  low  ruffian-manners, 
in  which  unworthy  means  it  is  not  far  behind  the  worst  of  its 
opponents. 

Curci  adds  in  the  same  connection  an  account  of  how 
he  himself  before  the  year  1870  sought  to  effect  a  re- 
organisation of  the  order,  with  the  aid  of  the  order's 


42  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

superiors  outside  of  Italy.  But  he  was  met  with  the  same 
Sint  lit  sunt  aiit  non  sint  which  the  last  general  of 
the  order  had  opposed  to  the  alternative  of  dissolution  or 
reform.  A  provincial,  to  whose  influence  over  the  general 
Curci  appealed  in  behalf  of  his  proposed  reform,  gave  the 
answer:  "  There  is  only  one  remedy,  but  the  general 
cannot  apply  it." — "  Why  not  ?" — "  Because  the  only 
effective  remedy  would  be  to  dissolve  the  order." 
[it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  modern  national  de- 
velopment hinges  upon  the  national  attitude  towards  the 
Jesuits;  for  the  order  or  against  the  order,  is  the  shib- 
boleth of  contemporary  history.  J  Moreover,  in  future  the 
history  of  the  Jesuits  and  flTat  of  the  Papacy  may  be 
treated  as  one  and  the  same,  and  we  shall  now  endeavour 
to  bring  into  view  the  threads  of  the  network  which  the 
order  spread  during  the  reign  of  its  restorer,  Pius  VII., 
starting  from  Rome  and  extending  over  all  countries. 

Next  to  the  states  of  the  Church  the  other  restored 
Italian  states,  where  it  had  been  hated  more  than  any- 
where else,  were  soon  blessed  with  the  renewed  order. 
In  Sicily  it  had  been  restored  since  1804.  From  there 
it  was  brought  to  Naples  by  Ferdinand  I.  after  his  vic- 
tory over  Murat  (1814);  and  here,  under  him  and  his 
successors,  it  steadily  gained  in  influence.  In  Piedmont, 
under  Victor  Emmanuel  I.,  and  in  Sardinia,  under 
Charles  Felix,  it  acquired  great  influence.  Yet  among 
the  most  energetic  and  the  best  educated  Italians  opposi- 
tion to  the  order  grew  in  proportion  to  the  spread  of  its 
power.  In  the  Austrian  dependencies  its  progress  was 
somewhat  slower.  But  here,  too,  Jesuit  influences  were 
at  work  in  the  suppression  of  dissent.  In  Modena,  where 
the  censorship  was  put  into  their  hands,  they  took  all 
obnoxious  books  even  from  private  libraries.  In  Tus- 
cany, the  reforms  of  Bishop  Ricci '  stood  in  the  way  of 

'  The  reforming  bishop  of  Pistoya  (1780).  In  1791  Ricci  was  compelled 
to  abdicate,  and  retired  to  private  life. 


The  Restoration  of  the  fesmts  43 

the  order's  progress ;  but  here,  too,  they  were  in  the  end 
successful. 

As  the  Italian,  so  the  Spanish  restoration.  Ferdinand 
VII.  reversed  the  act  of  expulsion  passed  by  Charles  III, 
(1767),  and  declared  all  charges  against  the  Jesuits  to  be 
fabrications  by  the  "  enemies  of  the  religion  of  Christ." 
Excess  of  reaction  led  in  Spain  sooner  than  elsewhere  to 
a  revolution,  and  the  revolution  was  directed  principally 
against  the  Jesuits.  After  the  French  invasion  and  the 
second  restoration  of  Ferdinand  (1823)  their  power  in- 
creased. The  seed  which  they  had  sown  soon  bore  fruit 
in  the  wars  of  the  Cariists. 

In  Portugal  affairs  took  at  first  the  opposite  course. 
King  John  VI.  (-f-  1826)  declared  his  resolution  never  to 
suffer  the  Jesuits  in  his  dominions.  His  son  Don  Pedro 
followed  in  his  footsteps,  and,  like  his  father,  leaned 
upon  the  liberal  anti-Jesuit  party.  But  during  the  usurp- 
ation of  Pedro's  brother,  Don  Miguel,  the  Jesuits  were 
able  to  steal  into  the  country. 

In  order,  however,  to  approve  itself  as  the  counter- 
agent  of  the  Revolution,  which,  according  to  the  papal 
brief,  was  the  principal  object  of  its  restoration,  it  was  a 
matter  of  especial  importance  to  the  order  to  gain  a  firm 
foothold  in  France,  the  land  of  the  Revolution.  The 
restored  Jesuits  became  hardly  less  fatal  to  France  than 
the  old  society.  All  subsequent  political  disturbances  in 
this  country  are  intimately  connected  with  the  victories 
and  the  defeats  of  the  order.  Let  us  trace  its  first 
appearance  in  France  after  the  Restoration. 

Before  this  time,  even  under  the  reign  of  Napoleon, 
Jesuits  were  not  wanting  in  France,  though  they  were 
concealed  under  other  names.  As  the  conflict  between 
emperor  and  pope  grew  more  pronounced,  especially 
during  the  imprisonment  of  the  latter  in  France  (1809- 
18 14),   the  ex- Jesuits  gained  increasing   influence  over 


44  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

Pius,  and  his  scruples  about  the  open  restoration  of  the 
order  were  quieted.  Even  in  the  family  of  the  Bona- 
partes,  the  Jesuits  found  favour  with  Cardinal  Fesch, 
Napoleon's  uncle.  Yet  not  until  after  the  legitimate 
monarchy  had  been  set  up  again  in  France,  under  the 
protection  of  foreign  troops,  could  the  restoration  of  the 
Company  of  Jesus  be  carried  out.  Then  there  immedi- 
ately began  a  rapid  invasion  of  the  conquered  country  by 
the  Jesuits. 

The  order  was  still  nominally  prohibited  by  the  law  of 
the  land;  nevertheless  the  government  took  measures  to 
help  its  return.  In  October,  1814,  Louis  XVIII.  issued 
an  ordinance  concerning  the  small  seminaries,  which 
withdrew  the  superintendence  over  them  from  the  uni- 
versities and  gave  to  the  bishops  full  liberty  in  the  choice 
of  teachers.  The  result  was  to  render  ineffective  the  old 
decrees  against  the  Jesuits.  A  second  ordinance,  of  Sep- 
tember, 18 16,  by  which,  to  remedy  the  lack  of  preaching, 
missions  were  organised,  gave  them  a  still  greater  ad- 
vantage. 

They  understood  well  how  to  use  these  missions  for 
their  own  advantage,  especially  to  arouse  the  fanaticism 
of  the  lower  classes.  The  last  act  of  the  solemn  services 
was  generally  the  setting  up  of  a  huge  cross,  to  which  the 
converted  attached  hearts  of  lead  graven  with  their 
initials.  At  the  same  time  the  people  were  excited 
against  the  Protestants,  and  the  hatred  thus  inflamed  led 
to  horrible  massacres,  especially  in  the  south  of  France. 
Every  effort  was  made  to  render  the  revolutionary  and 
Napoleonic  epoch  hateful  to  the  lower  classes,  and  this 
effort  was  eminently  successful. 

But  still  more  successful  was  another  effort — the  insti- 
tution of  Congregations  of  the  Afifiliated,  of  Jesuits  a 
robe  courte,  or  in  dress-suits,  which  served  the  purposes 
of  the  order  without  taking  the  vows.  These  congrega- 
tions were  masterfully  calculated  to  influence  the  minds 


The  Restoration  of  the  Jesuits  45 

of  those  whom  it  was  desirable  to  win.  There  were  va- 
rious such  congregations  for  the  various  classes.  Count 
Artois  and  his  daughter-in-law,  the  duchess  of  Angou- 
leme,  stood  at  the  head  of  the  congregation  composed  of 
the  highest  nobility.  The  higher  and  middle  classes, 
artisans,  domestics,  soldiers,  even  children,  had  their  spe- 
cial sodalities.  And  how  varied  was  the  list  of  names, 
how  innocent  the  objects:  "  for  the  propagation  of  the 
faith,"  "  for  the  defence  of  religion,"  "  for  the  defence 
of  the  holy  mysteries  and  the  holy  sacraments. ' '  Besides 
these  there  were  the  societies  "  of  the  sacred  heart  of 
Jesus  or  Mary,"  "  of  the  holy  rosary,"  "  of  the  holy 
sepulchre,"  also  the  "  society  of  regenerated  France." 

The  centre  of  these  congregations  was  the  Pavilion 
Marsan  (the  seat  of  Count  Artois),  and  there,  even  under 
Louis  XVIII.,  they  formed  a  secret  government  along- 
side of  the  constitutional  authorities.  Under  Charles  X. 
their  tendencies  became  dominant.  Their  full  influence, 
however,  upon  political  as  well  as  ecclesiastical  condi- 
tions must  be  studied  in  connection  with  the  history  of 
the  French  Church. 

With  the  history  of  the  Jesuits  in  France  their  progress 
in  the  smaller  neighbouring  countries  is  intimately  asso- 
ciated. Among  the  mixed  peoples  of  the  Southern 
Netherlands  their  successes  were  almost  greater  than  in 
France  itself.  Of  all  the  countries  in  which  the  Reform- 
ation had  been  suppressed  through  Jesuit  influence,  the 
provinces  of  the  Netherlands  which  Spain  had  recon- 
quered had  been  most  deeply  impregnated  with  the 
poison  of  the  order.  By  means  of  the  Inquisition  and 
the  Index,  with  the  help  of  learning  and  art,  a  bulwark 
had  been  thrown  up  against  the  dangerous  desire  for 
liberty  which  prevailed  in  the  Northern  Netherlands. 
And  the  inner-Catholic  movements  towards  reform,  in 
the  land  which  long  cherished  the  traditions  of  Erasmus, 


46  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

had    been    subdued   in   the  persons    of  Jansen    and  his 
friends. 

The  Company  of  Jesus  was  lord  over  all  conditions  of 
life,  as  in  a  second  Paraguay.  Even  after  the  dissolution 
of  the  order,  its  spirit  remained  supreme,  as  is  plainly 
shown  by  the  revolution  against  the  Emperor  Joseph  II. 
(1790).  Soon  after  this  the  French  arms  carried  Jacobite 
rule  into  this  land,  the  first  which  yielded  to  the  arms  of 
the  Revolution.  But  as  in  France,  so  here,  too,  the 
excesses  of  the  Revolution  prepared  the  way  for  a  coun- 
ter-revolution. After  the  Restoration  Belgium  immedi- 
ately becomes  one  of  the  most  important  centres  of  the 
order. 

For  the  interests  of  the  Jesuits  nothing  could  have  been 
more  opportune  than  the  suicidal  decree  of  the  Congress 
of  Vienna,  which  riveted  together  the  Northern  and  the 
Southern  Netherlands  ' — in  every  way  the  antipodes  the 
one  of  the  other.  The  Jesuits  were  in  the  forefront 
of  the  agitation  immediately  set  on  foot  against  the  Pro- 
testant dynasty  of  William  I.  At  the  same  time  the  old 
States-General  were  opened  to  their  settlement.  Two 
of  the  first  four  generals  of  the  new  order,  Roothan  and 
Beckx,  were  born  Belgians.  The  Dutch  Jesuit  institute 
in  Katwyk,  with  its  numerous  dependencies,  is  a  model 
of  modern  Jesuit  strongholds.  In  the  revolution  of  1830, 
in  the  constant  increase  of  Jesuit  intrigue  in  Holland,  in 
the  repeated  attempts  to  subject  the  neighbouring  Prus- 
sian provinces  to  the  same  tendencies,  we  shall  again  and 
again  have  to  follow  up  the  footprints  of  the  Jesuits. 

At  the  same  time  the  Jesuits  pushed  westward,  into 
the  Catholic  cantons  of  French  Switzerland.  Fribourg 
had  opened  its  gates  to  them  in  the  year  1818,  and  they 

'  The  Congress  of  Vienna  in  1815  formed  the  kingdom  of  the  Netherlands, 
comprising  the  former  republic  of  Holland  and  Austrian  Belgium,  under 
King  William  I.,  the  former  stadtholder. 


The  Restoration  of  the  Jesuits  47 

at  once  undertook  to  demolish  all  that  the  last  generation 
had  with  much  labour  achieved.  The  Franciscan  father, 
Girard,  working  in  the  spirit  of  Pestalozzi,  but  upon  a 
positive  and  churchly  basis,  had  so  greatly  promoted  the 
interests  of  education  in  Fribourg,  that  his  work  was 
generally  accepted  as  a  model.  But  Girard's  work  found 
no  favour  in  the  eyes  of  the  Jesuits.  In  its  place  a  great 
Jesuit  school  (aided  by  a  bequest  of  a  million  and  a  half) 
was  founded.  Fifty-seven  priests  and  fifteen  professors, 
almost  all  foreigners,  have  here  laid  their  magic  spell  upon 
thousands  of  boys,  chiefly  of  noble  parentage.  In  Fri- 
bourg the  most  influential  Jesuit  pupils  of  Austria  and 
Germany  were  trained ;  and  from  Fribourg  proceeded 
the  efforts  to  bring  the  other  Swiss  cantons  under  sub- 
jection to  the  Jesuits. 

In  Northern  Switzerland  the  order  was  not  ofificially 
introduced  until  later.  But  Vulliemin,  in  his  History  of 
the  Szaiss  Confederation,  gives  the  following  instructive 
picture  of  the  condition  of  affairs  immediately  after  the 
Restoration  in  those  places  which  had  been  given  over  to 
the  Jesuits: 

A  new  spirit  came  over  the  Catholic  cantons.  The  same 
spirit  began  to  prevail  simultaneously  in  the  German  and  the 
French  parts  of  Switzerland.  In  villages  where  the  children 
of  both  confessions  had  lived  together  in  daily  intercourse, 
parents  and  children  were  commanded  in  future  to  avoid  mix- 
ing with  Protestants;  in  places  where  the  same  building  had 
served  as  a  place  of  worship  for  members  of  both  faiths  there 
arose  rich  churches  solely  for  the  Roman  worship.  The 
nuncio  came  out  of  the  obscurity  in  which  he  had  long  re- 
mained. His  manner  was  the  same  as  that  which  Rome  had 
cultivated  in  the  last  century.  The  bishops  prohibited  the 
reading  of  the  Bible  and  withdrew  their  sanction  of  mixed 
marriages.  Associations  spread  tales  of  miracles  and  appeals 
for  pilgrimages  over  the  land.  Religious  zeal  everywhere 
found  ready  means  to  accomplish  its  purpose.      The  severe 


48  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

discipline  of  the  army,  the  general  at  the  head,  was  to  lead  to 
victory.  The  plan,  according  to  the  watchword  given,  was  to 
destroy  Carthage  and  to  build  Rome. 

In  the  following  generation  the  fruits  of  this  sowing 
had  ripened.  The  war  of  the  Sonderbund,'  similar  in  its 
beginning  to  the  revolution  in  Belgium,  resulted  in  the 
defeat  of  the  Jesuits.  But  the  work  begun  under  Pius 
VII.  in  Fribourg  was  not  without  lasting  results. 

It  took  longest  for  the  order  to  gain  a  foothold  in  Ger- 
many. The  repeated  attempts  at  reform  which  German 
Catholicism  made  bear  witness  to  the  failure  of  Jesuit 
influences  at  the  time.  Even  in  Austria  their  progress 
was  slow,  and  they  had  to  hide  themselves  for  a  time 
under  other  names — Liguorians,  or  Fathers  of  the  Faith. 
In  Bavaria,  King  Maximilian  and  King  Louis  were  long 
suspicious  of  the  Jesuits.  In  Prussia  the  order  received 
no  official  sanction  during  the  reign  of  Pius  VII. ,  although 
the  Rhine  province  felt  the  influence  of  the  neighbouring 
Belgium.  Dresden  was  one  of  the  first  centres  of  opera- 
tion of  the  order  in  Northern  Germany,  and  from  here 
proceeded  a  strong  missionary  influence.  The  conver- 
sions of  the  dukes  of  Kothen  and  of  Gotha  were  followed 
by  numerous  others  among  the  nobility. 

Whichever  way  we  turn,  everywhere  we  see  the  order 
immediately  after  its  restoration  devoting  its  accustomed 
energy  to  the  founding  of  new  strongholds,  and  in  all 
countries  we  trace  the  operations  of  the  pious  fathers, 
especially  in  the  greatest  crises  and  the  bloodiest  wars. 
And  yet  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  pontificate  of  Pius 
VII.,  which  had  restored  the  Company,  saw  its  downfall 
in  the  country  where  it  had  remained  in  existence  after  the 

'  The  seven  Catholic  cantons,  under  the  leadership  of  the  Jesuits,  wished 
to  establish  a  separate  confederacy  ;  this  led  to  the  war  of  the  Sonderbund, 
1847. 


The  Restoration  of  the  yesuits  49 

dissolution  under  Clement  XIV.  In  Russia,  Catherine, 
and  her  successors,  Paul  I.  and  Alexander  I.,  had  all  been 
favourably  disposed  to  the  order,  and  it  had  flourished. 
So  great  was  the  confidence  of  the  order  in  its  own  future 
throughout  Russia,  that  a  comprehensive  plan  had  been 
formed  to  bring  the  whole  educational  establishment  of 
the  empire  under  its  power.  But  their  first  successes 
made  them  forget  their  prudence,  and  they  called  down 
upon  themselves  the  vengeance  of  the  orthodox  Church. 
In  the  year  1820  they  were  expelled  for  ever  from  the 
empire.  The  following  causes  are  named  in  the  decree 
of  banishment:  "Their  political  wrangling,  their  pro- 
selytising, their  peace-destroying  intrusion  into  the 
family  life  of  noble  houses,  the  gross  use  they  made  of 
the  weaknesses  of  the  female  sex."  This  banishment 
made  an  end  of  their  open,  but  not  of  their  secret, 
activity.  Poland  became,  as  formerly,  their  headquar- 
ters, from  where  with  untiring  zeal  they  stirred  up  new 
revolutions.  But  the  motives  which  prompted  Alexander 
I.,  so  long  their  friend,  to  expel  them  are  thoroughly 
typical  of  what  happened  in  all  those  countries  which 
sooner  or  later  were  obliged  to  adopt  the  same  course. 

Thus  the  restoration  of  the  order  opened  an  era  of 
counter-reformation,  as  in  the  year  1540.  In  the  choice 
of  means  the  new  Jesuits  were  no  more  scrupulous  than 
the  old.  The  latter  had  formulated  the  murder  of  tyrants 
into  a  doctrine,  and  had  found  willing  hands  for  their 
theories,  as  in  the  murders,  quickly  following  one  upon 
the  other,  of  William  of  Orange  (1584),  Henry  III.  of 
France  (1589),  and  Henry  IV.  (1610),  and  in  the  repeated 
attempts  upon  the  life  of  Elizabeth  of  England.  The 
new  Jesuits  found  zealous  instruments  in  many  Poles 
and  Irishmen.  There  is  hardly  a  revolution  in  which 
they  did  not  have  a  hand.  When  the  revolution  was 
succeeded  by  the  inevitable  reaction,  they  knew  how  to 


50  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

make  themselves  conspicuous  as  the  deliverers  from  the 
revolution.  The  military  and  irresponsible  management 
of  the  order  made  it  the  special  favourite  of  the  military 
sovereigns,  who  were  for  controlling  spiritual  movements 
by  means  of  the  drill-sergeant's  discipline.  And  there 
was  nowhere  a  parallel  to  the  compact  organisation  of  the 
order. 

The  history  of  the  restored  Company  of  Jesus  teaches 
us  to  realise  the  significance  of  the  fact  that  several 
thousands  of  educated,  in  part  learned,  men,  associated 
for  a  common  purpose  as  instruments  without  a  will  of 
their  own,  seconded  by  hundreds  of  thousands  of  affiliated 
members,  with  great  financial  means,  with  favour  from 
above,  guided  by  prudent  calculation,  with  unparalleled 
dexterity  in  the  use  of  all  circumstances,  wage  daily  and 
hourly  war  against  modern  culture.' 

'  "  To  the  general  characterisation  given  in  Chapter  II.  should  be  added 
a  copious  collection  of  quotations,  for  which,  however,  it  is  to  be  regretted, 
space  is  wanting.  But  we  must  here  insist  most  emphatically  upon  the  ne- 
cessity of  a  systematic  study,  by  Protestant  scholars,  of  the  writings  of  the 
Jesuits  themselves,  very  much  more  thorough  than  has  hitherto  been  made. 
Besides  the  Catholic  historians,  there  are  few  who  have  even  a  superficial 
knowledge  of  the  Jesuit  literature  "  (Extract  from  the  author's  note  in  the 
literary-critical  supplement).  In  this  note  the  author  gives  a  brief  review 
of  the  comprehensive  literature  dealing  with  the  topic  of  this  chapter. 


CHAPTER   III 

THE   ERA   OF  THE   CONCORDATS   UNDER   PIUS  VII.* 


THE  restoration  of  the  order  of  Jesuits  was,  according 
to  the  bull  of  Pius  VII.,  prompted  by  the  havoc  of 
the  Revolution  and  the  need  of  some  weapon  against  it. 
The  same  cause  lies  behind  the  second  great  phenomenon 
of  the  time,  whose  connection  with  the  first  now  demands 
our  attention.  The  period  which  saw  the  Jesuits  resume 
their  open  activity  was  also  the  period  of  the  new  con- 
cordats between  the  Vatican  and  the  several  states,  which 
brought  to  the  Curia  unexpected  triumphs  over  the  secu- 
lar powers  as  well  as  over  the  ancient  national  churches. 
\  These  great  triumphs,  like  the  restoration  of  the  Jesuits, 
are  chiefly  due  to  the  counter-revolutionary  spirit  of  ab- 
solutism which  was  prevalent,  whose  influence  was  every- 
where felt.  In  the  concordats^ecclesiastical  and  political 
absolutism  entered  into  alliance,  against  independent  re- 
ligious and  national  development,  against  the  principles 
of  the  Reformation  as  well  as  those  of  the  Revolution. 

As  we  study  the  history  of  each  separate  country,  we 
are  led  again  and  again  to  this  absolutism  as  the  final 
cause  of  the  political  and  ecclesiastical  disorders  which 
followed.  The  spirit  of  the  Restoration,  prevalent  among 
the  ruling  classes,  placed  itself  in  direct  opposition  to  the 

'  The  era  following  the  restoration  of  Pius  VII.  in  1814,  during  which  he 
made  "concordats"  with  all  those  governments  in  Europe  and  America 
where  the  Church  was  allied  with  the  State. 

51 


52  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

ideals  of  national  progress.  But  we  must  not  neglect  to 
notice  other  secondary  causes  which  contributed  to  pro- 
duce the  disorders.  They  are  to  be  found  in  the  ignorance 
of  ecclesiastical  affairs  among  statesmen  ;  in  the  continued 
influence  of  the  Napoleonic  concordat  of  1801,  and  in  the 
prudent  use  by  the  Curia  of  present  conditions. 

The  ignorance  among  the  negotiators  (mostly  Protest- 
ant) as  to  the  true  conditions  of  Catholicism,  is  almost 
incredible.  The  consequence  of  this  ignorance  was  an 
utter  incapacity  to  follow  the  tortuous  path  of  curialistic 
reservations.  German  ministers  proceeded  upon  the 
assumption  that  the  Febronian  *  liberal  views,  to  which 
they  were  accustomed  in  Germany,  were  everywhere  in 
vogue.  Most  statesmen  remained  in  absolute  ignorance 
of  Roman  principles,  and  they  never  realised  that  these 
principles  were  the  very  same  as  those  that  had  prevailed 
in  what  was  to  the  statesman  a  forgotten  past.  "  When 
they  began  negotiations  with  the  Curia," — says  Otto 
Mejer  in  his  History  of  tJie  Roman-Gervian  Question, — 
"  they  left  entirely  out  of  view  the  character  and  relations 
of  the  opinions  accepted  at  Rome  and  the  range  of  thought 
which  directed  the  negotiations  on  the  part  of  the  Curia. " 

Still  more  fatal   was   the    ignorance    and   consequent 

neglect  which  especially  the  Protestant  negotiators  mani- 

^fested  in  regard  to  the  national  aspirations  of  Catholicism. 

\  The  confusion,  customary  in  Protestant  theology,  of  the 

infallibility  of  the  Church  and  the  infaUibility  of  the  pope, 

'  Bishop  Hontheim,  of  Treves,  in  the  year  1763,  published  a  work  On  the 
State  of  the  Church  and  the  Legitimate  Power  of  the  Rofnan  Pontiff,  under 
the  pseudonym  "  Justinus  Febronius."  Hontheim  stood  in  connection  with 
the  Jansenists  and  his  work  was  an  elTort  to  transplant  the  Gallican  system 
into  Germany.  He  upheld  the  episcopal  against  the  papal  system ;  the 
pope  does  not  represent  the  Church,  the  ecumenical  council  is  the  true 
representative.  The  bishops  are  the  successors  of  the  apostles.  Catholic 
princes  are  called  upon  to  combine  for  the  restriction  of  the  papal  power. — 
These  opinions  were  long  held  and  taught  by  Hontheim  •  but  in  the  end,  at 
eighty  years  of  age,  he  was  obliged  to  recant. 


The  Concordats  under  Pius  VII.  53 

gave  no  little  impulse  towards  the  final  adoption  of  the 
latter  dogma.  ■  In  the  same  manner  it  was  considered  an 
axiom  by  Protestant  diplomats  that  the  ofifice  of  bishop 
had  its  source  in  the  higher  office,  in  the  divine  right  of 
the  Papacy.  The  pope  created  bishoprics  and  sanctioned 
bishops.  Most  of  these  gentlemen  had  probably  never 
heard  of  the  constitution  of  the  ancient  Church,  the  very 
reverse  of  this  (as  it  is  found  especially  in  Cyprian,  the 
real  originator  of  Catholic  Church  principles),  and  were 
ignorant  of  the  independence  of  the  original  Germanic 
churches  (according  to  the  energetic  testimony  of  Colum- 
ban  and  Willibrord,  the  true  apostles  of  the  Germans). 

Just  as  little  did  they  seem  to  know  of  those  indispens- 
able foundations  of  an  independent  state,  about  which 
the  disputes  in  the  Middle  Ages  concerning  investiture 
centred,  or  of  the  endeavours  for  reform  within  the 
Church  made  by  the  great  councils  of  the  fifteenth  cent- 
ury. The  thorough  investigations  of  Protestant  his. 
torians  of  the  eighteenth  century  concerning  State  and 
Church  (Plank,  Moser,  Walch,  Le  Bret)  were  as  good  as 
non-existent  for  the  politicians  of  the  Restoration.  Did 
they  not  date  from  the  period  of  unbelieving,  revolution- 
breeding  rationalism,  whose  products  were  to  be  so  soon 
as  possible  forgotten  ? 

The  principles  in  vogue  within  the  Catholic  Church 
itself  in  the  era  before  the  Revolution  were  looked  upon 
as  especially  heretical.  Rome  did  not  wish  to  be  re- 
minded of  these  principles;  and  to  bring  to  remembrance 
awkward  historical  data,  which  did  not  agree  with  Roman 
dogmas,  was  at  Rome  considered  in  itself  heretical.  The 
diplomats,  to  whom  heresy  and  the  spirit  of  revolution 
were  synonymous,  thought  this  quite  in  order.  It  was 
therefore  an  easy  matter  by  the  use  of  heretical  epithets, 
such  as  Jansenism,  Febronianism,  Josephinism,  to  im- 
press the  revolutionary  stamp  upon  all  efforts  to  main- 
tain a  certain  independence  of  national  churches. 


54  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

One  must  go  far  back  in  history  to  find  parallels  to 
these  methods.  We  discover  their  prototype  in  the  sec- 
ond third  of  the  fifteenth  century,  when  the  acquisitions 
of  the  great  reform  councils  of  Constance  and  Basle  were 
bargained  away;  and  in  the  time  of  the  counter-reforma- 
tion, when,  at  the  Council  of  Trent,  opposition  to  the 
Reformation  was  bought  at  the  price  of  the  triumph  of 
papal  principles.  The  same  concentration  of  Catholicism 
in  the  Papacy,  which  had  brought  to  a  standstill  the  inde- 
pendent expansion  of  national  life,  which  had  smothered 
the  aspirations  of  councils  and  of  the  Reformation,  was 
now  counted  upon  to  act  as  a  dam  against  the  Revolution. 

There  was  only  this  difference  between  the  present  and 
the  former  periods:  in  those  times  it  was  Catholic  and 
mostly  spiritual  statesmen  who,  with  an  eye  to  their  own 
end,  lost  sight  of  the  impairment  of  ancient  Church 
liberties ;  while  now  Protestant  statesmen  in  the  ignorance 
of  a  childlike  faith  placed  themselves  at  the  service  of  the 
Curia.  When  the  agents  of  the  states  proceeded  upon 
the  assumption  that  the  pope  nominated  bishops  and 
created  sees,  they  conceded  claims  which  the  older 
Catholicism  had  always  disputed. 

We  must  not  leave  out  of  sight  the  special  pattern 
which  was,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  followed  by  the 
diplomats  of  the  Restoration.  All  the  concordats  were 
but  imitations  of  that  which  Napoleon  Bonaparte  as  first 
consul  had  concluded  in  the  beginning  of  the  century. 
By  this  concordat  the  ancient  French  pre-revolutionary 
Church  had  been  suppressed,  its  legal  bishops  deposed, 
the  new  bishops  made  the  subject  creatures  of  the  pope, 
the  great  mass  of  the  clergy  degraded  into  curates  ad 
mitmn  episcopi,  and  the  congregations  turned  over  to  the 
mercy  of  the  clerics  who  were  drilled  in  the  new  semin- 
aries. '■  And  this  entire  new  Church  system  was  simply 
a  copy  of  the  political  absolutism  under  which  the  son  of 


The  Concordais  2C7zder  Pius  VII.  55 

the  Revolution  had  humbled  a  people  that  dreamed  of 
liberty  and  equality.  The  restored  powers  had  but  to  walk 
in  his  footsteps,  both  in  regard  to  the  end  sought  and  to 
the  means  by  which  that  end  was  to  be  accomplished,  j 

We  are  not  in  ignorance  of  the  motives  which  prompted 
Napoleon  in  this  matter.  He  was  guided  by  the  same 
principles  as  in  the  negotiations  just  previous  to  this  with 
the  Mohammedan  Muftis,  to  whom  he  spoke  of  himself 
as  a  good  Mohammedan.  This  is  what  he  said  to  the 
philosopher  Cabanis:  "  The  concordat  is  a  religious  vac- 
cination ;  in  fifty  years  there  will  be  no  more  religion  in 
France."  Nevertheless,  it  was  of  the  highest  importance 
to  his  policy  that  he  should  appear  before  the  people  as 
the  saviour  of  an  endangered  religion ;  and  to  the  pope, 
when  he  invited  him  to  the  coronation,  he  spoke  of  the 
concordat  as  "the  regeneration  of  Christianity  in  France." 
The  necessity  of  this  regeneration  of  Christianity  is  ex- 
plained in  a  speech  of  Portalis  delivered  in  the  legislative 
body  (after  the  expulsion  of  the  members  from  whom 
opposition  was  expected) : 

Because  the  morality  of  citizens  is  necessary  for  the  state, 
religion  is  necessary  ;  for  morality  without  dogma  is  justice 
without  a  tribunal.  The  great  multitude  needs  commands 
and  therefore  an  abstract  religion  without  ceremonies  does 
not  suffice.  One  must  take  religion  on  faith  as  the  work  of 
God,  for  all  is  lost  as  soon  as  one  sees  in  it  the  hand  of  man. 
If  Christianity  has  certain  peculiar  dogmas,  these  fill  out  the 
empty  space  which  is  left  by  the  reason. 

A  significant  sign  of  the  times  in  which  the  "  regenera- 
tion of  Christianity  "  was  brought  about  was  the  device 
of  General  Berthier  to  get  the  generals  into  church  for 
the  solemn  act  of  Napoleon's  coronation:  he  invited 
them  to  breakfast  and  when  the  party  broke  up  he  ar- 
ranged to  meet  the  procession  as  it  was  going  to  the 
church,  so  that  they  could  not  do  otherwise  than  join  it. 


56  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centicry 

Such  was  the  salvation  of  religion,  the  restitution  of 
the  altars,  the  regeneration  of  Christianity,  in  the  era 
which  carried  Napoleon  to  victory.  Nevertheless  the 
concordat  was  a  mighty  triumph  for  the  Church,  if  by  the 
Church  we  understand  the  hierarchy.  Only  Galileans, 
like  d'Haussonville  and  Archbishop  Affre,  and  Protestant 
idealists  have  come  to  a  different  conclusion.  Yet  this 
difference  in  judgment  is  no  contradiction.  For  to  the 
latter  the  Church  stood  for  religion  in  the  spirit  of  Christ, 
to  the  papalists  the  Church  stood  for  the  hierarchy.  And 
hierarchical  absolutism  has  rightly  recognised  its  twin- 
brother  in  Caesarian  absolutism. 

In  the  ecclesiastical  policy  of  Napoleon  we  see  the 
origin  of  the  politico-ecclesiastical  reaction  over  the  whole 
of  Europe.  Wherever  the  power  of  the  empire  extended 
his  initiative  was  followed.  The  Italian  concordat,  the 
concordats  of  the  states  of  the  Rhine  Confederation,  the 
concordats  with  Bavaria  and  Wiirtemberg  (whose  com- 
pletion, however,  was  deferred  to  a  later  period),  were 
imitations  of  the  French  and  date  from  the  time  of  Na- 
poleon himself.  The  example  which  he  set  of  exploiting 
the  most  sacred  human  needs  for  political  purposes  proved 
even  at  that  time  exceedingly  contagious;  and  the  con- 
querors of  Napoleon  had  only  to  follow  an  established 
method  in  order  to  share  with  the  pope  in  the  exploita- 
tion of  the  popular  faith. 

They  forgot  that  the  final  result  of  the  Napoleonic  con- 
cordat had  been  the  first  and  severest  defeat  of  Napoleon, 
(just  as  little  did  it  occur  to  them  that-  the  course  which 
was  alone  in  accord  with  the  principles  of  the  gospel  and 
}of  modern  times  had  already  been  taken  by  the  American 
■Union,  and  had  been  crowned  with  the  best  success. 
Whenever  anyone  pointed  to  the  American  principle  and 
its  happy  results,  the  republican  name  of  the  Union 
sufficed  to  cast  suspicion  upon  its  liberty  of  conscience 
as  revolutionary  and  demagogic. 


The  Concordats  tinder  Phis  VII.  57 

Napoleon's  ill  success  on  the  other  hand  was  attributed 
to  the  fact  that  he  had  deviated  from  the  principles  of  his 
concordat  and  had  been  disobedient  to  the  divine  admon- 
ition of  the  Holy  See.  The  view  soon  became  preva- 
lent which  found  the  first  cause  of  his  misfortunes  in  the 
papal  ban.'  As  long  as  he  stood  upon  good  footing  with 
the  pope,  he  was  favoured  by  fortune.  With  the  papal 
ban  the  divine  wrath  descended  upon  him.  According 
to  this  view  it  is  not  surprising  that  after  the  Restoration 
his  enemies  followed  his  example  of  using  ecclesiastical 
interests  as  a  means  for  political  ends  —  with  the  same 
result  for  them  all  in  the  end. 

But,  in  order  to  explain  the  incredible  gains  which  the 
Papacy  made,  we  must  allow  due  weight  also  to  the 
political  genius  of  the  Vatican.  The  priestly  politicians 
have  always  outwitted  secular  statesmen,  and  one  day 
the  latter  were  surprised  by  a  clerical  declaration  of  war. 
A  Consalvi  against  a  Niebuhr  had  victory  assured  from 
the  start.  It  was  a  part  of  the  far-seeing  calculation  of 
the  papal  secretary,  whose  eye  surveyed  the  whole  broad 
field  in  the  negotiations  for  the  concordats,  to  push  for- 
ward the  conventions  with  the  "  friendly  "  governments 
and  retard  those  with  the  others.  In  this  way  the  former 
became  the  models  for  all.  In  the  history  of  the  old 
popes  none  of  the  successors  had  ever  given  up  a  claim 
which  a  predecessor  had  in  any  instance  carried  through, 
and  now  the  decisions  of  the  Spanish  and  the  Sardinian 
concordats  were  brought  to  bear  upon  France,  the  French 
concessions  were  used  against  Bavaria,  the  Bavarian  con- 
cordat against  Naples,  the  Neapolitan  against  Prussia, 
the  Prussian  bull  of  circumscription  against  Hanover  and 
the  Church  province  of  the  upper  Rhine. 

'  The  coronation,  in  which  the  pope  was  made  to  serve  the  ends  of  the 
emperor,  was  shortly  followed  by  a  rupture  between  the  two.  On  the  loth 
of  June,  1S09,  the  states  of  the  Church  were  by  imperial  decree  incorporated 
in  the  French  empire.     The  pope  immediately  excommunicated  Napoleon. 


58  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

In  the  mean  time  not  only  did  each  of  the  state  men 
think  he  had  obtained  more  for  himself  and  his  govern- 
ment than  his  colleagues,  but  they  all  looked  upon  the 
concessions  they  had  made  to  the  Curia  as  a  gift  vouch- 
safed by  the  latter.  None  understood  that  according 
to  the  view  of  the  Vatican  a  concordat  was  anything 
but  a  valid  compact  between  two  independent  contracting 
parties,  that  it  was  only  a  concession  made  for  the  moment 
to  human  ideas  of  justice,  which  the  Holy  Father  could 
take  back  at  any  time  by  virtue  of  his  divine  right. 

Spain  was  one  of  the  most  "  friendly  "  governments. 
Immediately  after  the  Restoration,  the  ecclesiastical  de- 
crees of  the  Cortes  of  1812  were  suspended  and  the  con- 
cordat of  1782  restored.  Little  Sardinia  followed  Spain. 
By  the  new  agreement  with  Rome  not  less  than  ten 
bishoprics  were  restored  and   richly   endowed. 

In  the  Neapolitan  kingdom,  owing  to  certain  long- 
standing disputes  with  the  Curia,  the  process  was  slower; 
but  Consalvi  finally  obtained  his  purpose  by  means  of  a 
court  intrigue.  The  old-Catholic  Josephine  '  traditions 
were  entirely  suppressed  by  the  new  concordat ;  and  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  was  declared  the  only  Church 
recognised  by  the  law. 

In  France,  the  result  of  the  protracted  secret  negotia- 
tions was  a  concordat  concluded  in  1817,  by  which  the 
Napoleonic  concordat  of  1801  was  abolished  and  the  old 
concordat  of  15 16  with  its  pre-Reformation  articles  was 
restored.  This  compact,  however,  excited  decided  op- 
position among  the  representatives  of  the  state  and  those 
of  the  Gallican  traditions,  and  in  a  short  time  had  brought 
forth  a  considerable  body  of  literature,  pro  and  con.  Ac- 
cording to  the  constitution,  the  project  had  to  receive  the 
sanction  of  the  legislature,  to  which  it  was  submitted  by 
the  ministry  as  z.projet  de  loi.     The  legislature  demanded 

'  This  refers  to  the  era  of  the  liberal  emperor  Joseph  II.  of  Austria 
(1765-1790). 


The  Concordats  zmder  Pitts  VII.  59 

important  changes.  The  pope's  answer  to  these  de- 
mands was  that  "  the  intended  changes  are  impractic- 
able, the  whole  proceeding  inadmissible;  for  whatever 
was  prescribed  by  the  pope  in  ecclesiastical  affairs,  with 
the  sanction  of  the  king,  had  already  the  character  of  a 
valid  legal  enactment  and  could  not  be  submitted  to  the 
deliberations  of  a  legislative  assembly."  The  result  of 
this  impertinent  answer  on  the  part  of  the  pope  was  that 
the  projct  de  lot  was  withdrawn.  The  compact  was  sus- 
pended, and  the  Napoleonic  concordat  of  1801  thereby 
became  again  valid,  and  remained  so.  But  the  objects 
of  the  Vatican  were  indirectly  achieved.  And  the  ultra- 
montanisation  of  the  French  Church  proceeded  energetic- 
ally, the  Curia  looking  upon  the  concordat  of  18 17  as  the 
actually  valid  agreement.  All  further  conventions  were 
merely  provisional. 

However  great  were  the  acquisitions  of  the  Papacy  in 
the  Latin  countries,  the  question  here  was  essentially 
about  the  restoration  of  an  ecclesiastical  system  which 
had  held  undisputed  sway  before  the  Revolution.  The 
change  which  the  Restoration  effected  consisted  in  the 
increased  influence  of  the  Curia  upon  the  inside  affairs  of 
the  Church.  It  was  quite  different  in  the  Germanic 
countries,  especially  in  Germany,  where  the  destruction 
of  the  old  empire  had  entirely  altered  the  ecclesiastico- 
political  conditions.  When  they  undertook  to  reduce 
these  conditions  to  order  it  never  occurred  to  the  states- 
men of  the  time  to  accomplish  their  object  by  consti- 
tuting an  independent  national  Catholic  Church;  they 
employed  what  appeared  to  them  the  simplest  means: 
the  subjection  of  the  Church  to  the  authority  of  Rome. 
Catholics  of  national  proclivities  were  slighted  by  those 
who  should  have  afforded  them  every  possible  help,  and 
the  Curia  understood  how  to  use  every  favourable  mo- 
ment to  fish  in  troubled  waters. 


6o  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

The  attitude  of  the  Vatican  at  this  time  makes  it  very 
evident  where  the  restored  Papacy  recognised  its  most 
dangerous  enemy.  The  revolutionary  and  destructive 
principles  which  at  times  assumed  a  threatening  attitude 
towards  the  Church,  yet  again  and  again  afforded  to  the 
Church  the  opportunity  of  presenting  itself  to  the  leaders 
of  the  state  as  the  most  powerful  ally  against  the  Revolu- 
tion. We  therefore  find  the  papal  diplomacy  maintaining 
close  relations  with  these  same  revolutionary  tendencies 
in  Belgium  and  the  Prussian  Rhineland,  as  well  as  in 
Poland  and  Ireland. 

[  On  the  other  hand  the  tendency  which  was  opposed 
with  deadly  hatred  by  the  papal  party  and,  wherever 
possible,  utterly  annihilated,  was  that  ideal  of  a  national 
Catholicism,  full  of  religious  enthusiasm,  of  moral  energy, 
and  of  intellectual  aspirations,  which  dated  from  the  pre- 
revolutionary  era  and  had  been  preserved  through  the 
storms  of  the  Revolution.  '  The  opposition  to  this  na- 
tional tendency  is  especially  manifest  in  the  intrigues  set 
on  foot  by  the  Curia  against  Wessenberg  (vicar-general 
and  bishop-elect  of  the  diocese  of  Constance).'  The 
favourable  moment  for  breaking  the  influence  of  Wessen- 
berg and  his  friends  had  come  and  was  thoroughly  used. 
Catholic  Germany  was  to  be  ultramontanised,  and  German 
Catholic  theology,  which  after  the  wars  of  liberation  had 
taken  up  its  task  with  renewed  enthusiasm  and  which 
soon  raised  itself  to  a  level  with  Protestant  theology,  was 
throttled  in  its  infancy. 

The  history  of  the  German  concordat  is  closely  inter- 
woven with  the  general  development  of  German  Cathol- 
icism, and  must  be  studied  in  connection  with  this  general 
development.  Here  we  shall  only  briefly  refer  to  the 
concordats  with  the  other  states.  It  is  remarkable  that 
Austria  is  not  among  the  German  governments  which  at 
this  time  formed  a  compact  with  Rome.  The  reason 
'  See  page  33,  note. 


The  Co7icordats  ti7tder  Pius  VII.  6i 

was  that  in  Austria  the  liberal  traditions  of  the  time 
of  the  emperor  Joseph  long  prevailed ;  and  the  Curia 
gave  another  illustration  of  its  temporising  principles: 
it  waited  for  a  more  favourable  time.  Russia,  how- 
ever, the  ally  of  Austria,  accepted  from  Pius  VII.  in 
1818  a  bull  of  circumscription  for  Poland,  and  Alexan- 
der I.  richly  endowed  the  Polish  Church.  For  Ireland 
also  Consalvi  won  large  concessions  from  the  English 
government. 

The  policy  of  the  concordats  was  nowhere  more  fatal 
than  in  the  United  Netherlands,  that  union  soldered 
together  by  the  Congress  of  Vienna.  The  unnatural 
position  of  the  new  state  —  made  up  of  Protestant  Hol- 
land and  Catholic  Belgium  —  was  recognised  and  taken 
advantage  of  from  the  start  by  the  Curia.  Among  the 
many  negotiations  which  Consalvi  carried  on  in  behalf  of 
the  concordats,  in  which  he  always  succeeded  in  getting 
the  better  of  the  state  agents,  there  is  none  other  which 
puts  his  diplomatic  skill  in  so  clear  a  light  as  the  appar- 
ently unsuccessful  negotiations  with  the  new  royal  gov- 
ernment of  the  Netherlands.  This  government  was  more 
bent  on  winning  the  clericals  by  concession  than  on 
remaining  true  to  the  glorious  traditions  of  the  States- 
General,  and  like  all  the  rest  believed  that  its  best  support 
was  in  the  Roman  Curia. 

In  the  year  1817  the  ambassador  from  the  Netherlands 
in  Rome  offered  the  concordat  of  Napoleon  as  a  basis  of 
negotiations.  The  Curia  refused  to  treat  upon  this  basis, 
and  referred  to  the  recently  concluded  concordat  with 
Bavaria  as  a  model.  The  government  asked  the  Curia 
to  name  the  points  in  which  it  wished  to  have  the  Napo- 
leonic concordat  (which  was  still  in  force  for  Belgium) 
changed.  Consalvi  answered  that  this  concordat  was 
entirely  out  of  the  question,  and  he  refused  to  even 
name  a  basis  for  new  negotiations:  "  The  Holy  See 
could  not  take  the  initiative ;  rather  was  it  in  accordance 


62  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centuiy 

with  the  well-known  and  unchangeable  character  of 
the  general  papal  laws  that  the  modifications  desired 
should  be  indicated  by  those  who  desired  them." 
The  government  took  no  account  of  the  popular  de- 
sire for  political  liberty,  and  sacrificed  more  and  more 
to  clericalism.  The  final  result  was  the  concordat  of 
1827,  which  became  one  of  the  prime  causes  of  the  revo- 
lution of  1830  in  Belgium  and  of  the  internal  disorders  in 
Holland. 

Here  too,  as  everywhere,  the  path  which  Consalvi 
chose  led  to  the  goal — the  universal  triumph  of  the  papal 
principle.  To  the  era  of  the  concordats  are  primarily 
traced  the  successes  of  the  papal  system  in  every  coun- 
try, successes  which  surpassed  even  those  of  the  first 
counter-reformation.  The  spell  of  that  wonderful  magic 
with  which  Consalvi  with  his  far-sightedness  knew  how 
to  captivate  the  diplomats,  for  a  long  time  warped  even 
the  judgment  of  historians.  No  less  a  writer  than  Ranke 
has  written  a  panegyric  of  Consalvi ;  and  in  the  preface 
to  his  History  of  the  Popes  he  states  emphatically  that 
"  the  times  when  there  was  any  cause  of  fear  are  past." 
But  Ranke's  judgment  was  based  upon  the  despatches  of 
Niebuhr,'  the  blinded  minister  of  Prussia  at  the  court  of 
Rome. 

^  A  number  of  references  by  the  author  to  the  great  historian  of  Rome 
have  been  left  out  in  the  translation,  because  calculated  more  particularly 
for  German  readers.  The  author  is  unsparing  in  his  criticism  of  Niebuhr. 
He  was  at  this  time  ambassador  from  Prussia  to  the  Vatican,  and  although 
so  keen-sighted  in  historical  matters  at  a  distance,  he  was  entirely  blind  to 
the  tendencies  of  contemporary  ecclesiastical  forces,  and  did  much  to  sup- 
press the  national  aspirations  of  German  Catholicism  and  to  subject  the 
Church  in  Germany  to  the  absolute  power  of  the  Papacy. 


CHAPTER    IV 


THE   STATES   OF   THE   CHURCH    UNDER   PIUS   VII. 


IN  the  eyes  of  the  papal  diplomacy  there  was  something 
more  important  even  than  the  restoration  of  the  Order 
of  Jesus  and  the  new  concordats:  this  was  the  recovery 
of  the  states  of  the  Church.  If  this  oldest  and  most 
legitimate  monarchy,  the  necessary  support  for  the  au- 
thority of  the  Pontifex  Maximus,  were  not  rescued  from 
the  Revolution,  no  other  monarch  could  count  upon  sav- 
ing his  dynasty :  such  was  the  argument  among  diplomats 
who  knew  nothing  of  the  first  principles  of  independent 
statehood.  And  the  Congress  of  Vienna  thought  no 
more  of  the  fraud  and  violence  which  had  marked  the 
foundation  and  enlargement  of  the  Church  state  than  of 
the  utter  incapacity  which  its  priestly  rulers  had  so  often 
shown  in  its  government. 

It  was  an  old  story.  And  for  that  very  reason,  in 
order  to  understand  the  influence  upon  the  Papacy  of 
the  restoration  of  the  temporal  power,  we  shall  have  to 
glance  back  to  the  time  when  the  Papacy  first  acquired 
this  power,  to  the  time  of  the  donation  of  Pepin  in 
755  A.D.,'  which  Napoleon  as  the  successor  of  Pepin  and 
of  Charlemagne  declared  abrogated. 

Two  centuries  of  continued  conspiracy  against  imperial 

'  The  gift  by  Pepin  of  the  exarchate  of  Ravenna,  the  Pentapolis  (Ancona, 
Sinigaglia,  Fano,  Pesaro,  Rimini),  and  the  territory  of  Bologna  and  Fer- 
rara,  was  the  foundation  of  the  papal  states. 

63 


64  The  Papacy  m  the  igth  Centuiy 

rule  at  Constantinople  and  of  renewed  persecutions  of 
the  Lombards  had  gone  before  this  donation.  Only  then 
did  the  Papacy  realise  its  long-cherished  hope,  by  means 
of  the  usurpation  of  the  new  Carlovingian  dynasty  in  the 
kingdom  of  the  Franks,  the  Curia  lending  its  powerful 
aid  to  this  coup  d'etat.  It  was  the  keys  sent  to  Pepin 
from  the  sepulchre  of  St.  Peter,  the  letters  written  from 
heaven  by  St.  Peter,  and  the  miracle  of  the  transferred 
relics,  which,  together  with  the  lust  of  conquest  on  the 
part  of  the  Franks,  gave  the  death-blow  to  the  Lombard 
kingdom  and  brought  about  the  separation  from  the 
Byzantine  empire  in  the  eighth  century.  Not  until  this 
had  taken  place  could  the  donation  of  Pepin  and  of 
Charles  create  a  temporal  dominion  for  St.  Peter. 

The  Frankish  emperor,  as  overlord  of  Rome,  reserved 
to  himself  certain  rights ;  but  even  these  were  forgotten 
under  the  weak  successors  of  Charlemagne.  Pope  Nich- 
olas I.,  in  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century,  supported  by 
the  pseudo-Isidorian  decretals,  was  able  to  set  up  as 
independent  prince  and  to  dictate  his  commands  to  an 
enervated  dynasty  as  well  as  to  the  patriarch  of  Constan- 
tinople and  the  primate  of  Gaul. 

Upon  the  ruins  of  the  empire,  hastening  to  decay, 
the  papal  monarchy  was  gradually  built  up.  But  what  a 
picture  the  history  of  those  who  followed  Nicholas  pre- 
sents in  the  tenth  century !  The  horrible  drama  of  the 
trial  of  the  disinterred  body  of  Formosus,*  the  papal  por- 
nocracy  under  Theodora  and  Marozia,'^  set  forth  only 
too  clearly  the  blessings  which  the  temporal  power  of  the 
popes  in  its  beginning  brought  upon  the  people  of  the 
papal  states. 

Looking  at  the  history  of  Rome  with  the  eyes  of  a 

'  896  A.D.  "  The  body  of  the  dead  Formosus  was  exhumed,  and  he  was 
put  in  state  upon  the  pontifical  chair,  and  tried  and  condemned  by  (pope) 
Stephen,  and  all  his  adherents  deposed." 

^  Beginning  of  the  loth  century. 


The  States  of  the  Chttrch  tinder  PiiLs  VII.       65 

Roman,  we  are  not  puzzled  to  understand  why  such  men 
as  Arnold  of  Brescia  and  Rienzi  found  their  most  faithful 
adherents  in  the  papal  city,  and  why  the  history  of 
mediaeval  Rome  is  but  a  series  of  revolts  against  the 
temporal  power  of  the  Papacy. 

As  the  immediate  subjects  of  the  pope  the  Romans 
enjoyed  certain  advantages,  for  they  chiefly  benefited  by 
the  large  sums  of  money  which  flowed  into  Rome  from 
all  countries.  But  the  reverse  of  the  picture  was  not  so 
pleasing,  as  Italian  patriots  well  understood.  For  indol- 
ence and  aversion  to  work  and  want  of  respect  for  the 
law  distinguished  the  people  of  the  Church  state  from 
their  neighbours.  The  Pontine  marshes,  however,  and 
the  brigandage  are  not  the  worst  fruits  of  ecclesiastical 
government.  Italian  patriotism,  which  sought  to  build 
up  the  longed-for  Italian  nationality  upon  the  sacred 
institution  of  the  family,  feared  above  all  things  the 
loosening  of  ethical  ties,  especially  those  of  matrimony. 
Among  so  many  thousands  of  celibate  priests,  who  were 
infallible  in  the  eyes  of  their  penitents,  evil  consequences 
were  inevitable.  And  they  were  not  wanting.  As  in 
France  the  love  of  French  comedy  for  the  adultery  cult, 
and  in  Belgium  the  many  actions  at  law  on  account  of 
rape  of  children  by  ecclesiastics,  are  traceable  to  this 
cause,  so  the  Roman  cicisbeo  is  proverbial  in  all  the 
world.  One  of  the  most  learned  and  gifted  of  the  popes 
—  Pius  II.,  as  ^neas  Sylvius  (-f- 1464),  had  given  the 
first  example  of  a  licentious  adultery  novel  {Eurjalns  and 
Litcretia),  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  even  to  this  day 
he  has  found  such  imitators  as  the  father  of  the  Countess 
Lambertini,  Cardinal  Antonelli.  We  may  not,  for  good 
reasons,  go  into  further  details;  but  it  would  be  more 
than  unhistorical  to  simply  ignore  these  moral  results 
of  the  papal  monarchy.  More  than  twenty-five  years 
ago,  long  before  the  inevitable  disaster  overwhelmed 
the   states   of   the   Church,  a   highly   honoured    Italian 


66  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

theologian,  the  pupil  and  friend  of  Passaglia,  pointed  to 
this  the  worst  side  of  the  priest-state. 

Where  the  principle  is  a  bad  one,  its  better  represent- 
atives cannot  prevent  evil  consequences.  The  reforms 
which  the  better  popes  of  the  eighteenth  century,  espe- 
cially Clement  XIV.,  had  been  able  to  carry  out  were 
short-lived.  The  storms  of  the  Revolution,  therefore, 
which  everywhere  played  havoc  with  rotten  state  insti- 
tutions, in  Germany,  Switzerland,  and  Holland,  nowhere 
did  such  thorough  work  in  clearing  the  atmosphere  as  in 
the  papal  possessions.  Nowhere  did  this  great  judgment 
of  God  work  better  results  than  here. 

After  the  Revolution,  Rome,  like  all  other  states,  was 
affected  by  the  new  spirit  of  the  times.  The  first  ten 
years  of  our  century  show  a  marked  contrast,  as  well  to 
the  former  as  to  a  later  period,  in  the  care  of  general 
education.  The  same  is  true  of  all  other  interests. 
The  French  system,  which  came  in  at  the  Revolution, 
put  an  end  to  clerical  prerogatives,  and  this  effected  a 
number  of  useful  reforms.  By  opening  the  offices  to 
laymen  public  order  and  safety  were  secured.  Agriculture, 
commerce,  and  industry  were  in  every  way  furthered; 
and  in  spite  of  the  evil  consequences  of  the  continental 
blockade  there  was  a  marked  improvement  in  the  welfare 
of  the  people. 

All  these  conditions  were  changed  in  a  moment  when 
the  papal  monarchy  was  restored  to  its  former  rights. 
Nothing  else  was  possible,  from  the  very  nature  of  the 
Papacy.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  Zelanti  had 
demanded  a  return  to  the  old  conditions  and  had  stood 
in  the  way  of  the  enlightened  and  progressive  Liberali, 
who  wished  to  retain  the  reforms  of  the  French  period. 
For  it  was  not  till  after  the  return  of  Consalvi  from 
Vienna  that  the  Motu  Propria  of  the  6th  of  July,  1816, 
set  up  the  new  administration  of  the  state.     The  system 


The  States  of  the  Chirch  under  Phis  VII.       67 

as  such  is  independent  of  personalities.  The  renewal  of 
the  canon  law  was  the  inevitable  conseq.uence  of  the  re- 
newal of  the  Papacy,  and  the  canon  law  brought  con- 
fusion into  all  legal  relations  under  the  civil  law.  For 
the  source  of  all  right  was  the  grace,  i.e.,  the  arbitrary 
will,  of  the  pope ;  and  justice  became  venal. 

Ranke  in  one  of  his  writings  praises  the  administration 
of  Consalvi  and  has  even  a  word  of  excuse  for  the  system 
which  united  the  spiritual  and  temporal  government  in 
the  hands  of  the  same  officers.  His  assertions  were 
refuted  by  Dollinger  in  1861  in  his  Church  and  Churches, 
The  very  worst  of  the  later  abuses  are  traced  to  Con- 
salvi's  Motii  Propria  of  1816.  The  uniformity  which 
Consalvi  professed  to  retain  from  the  system  introduced 
by  the  French  was  a  mere  uniformity  of  destruction,  for 
it  consisted  in  the  suppression  of  all  municipal  and  pro- 
vincial institutions  and  privileges.  At  the  same  time  all 
power  was  placed  in  spiritual  hands.  The  states  of  the 
Church  became  what  they  had  not  been  even  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  an  absolute  bureaucracy  after  the  French  model, 
only  the  of^cers  were  prelates  of  the  Church.  Dollinger 
characterised  the  raw  material  from  which  these  of^cials 
were  taken  as  that  class  of  Roman  ecclesiastics  "  who 
with  very  insufficient  legal  and  with  no  economic  studies, 
more  trained  than  educated,  more  familiar  with  Church 
ceremonies  than  with  the  complexities  and  the  interests 
of  civil  life,  place  their  confidence  in  the  patronage  of  a 
cardinal  or  a  monsignore. " 

One  of  the  first  measures  of  the  pope  after  his  return 
was  the  renewal  of  the  monasteries  and  the  restoration 
of  ecclesiastical  property.  The  effects  of  the  French  con- 
fiscation —  whatever  its  justice  may  have  been  —  had 
passed  off  and  the  people  had  grown  used  to  the  new 
conditions.  Now  all  the  chapters  and  monasteries  re- 
ceived back  whatever  property  had  not  been  alienated 
and   were    indemnified    for   what    had    been    sold    with 


68  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

five-per-cent.  state-bonds.  The  state  thereby  lost  con- 
siderable income,  had  to  shoulder  a  heavy  debt,  and 
became  involved  in  endless  money  troubles. 

The  second  step  was  to  restore  to  ecclesiastics  and  no- 
bles their  antiquated  prerogatives.  At  the  same  time  the 
suppression  of  all  provincial  and  municipal  constitutions 
brought  upon  the  laity  the  loss  of  those  privileges  which 
they  had  here  and  there  enjoyed.  Taxes  and  burdens 
belonged  to  the  people,  revenue  and  rights  to  the  clergy. 
\  On  every  hand  we  find  the  march  of  progress  arrested 
and  turned  back^^  Instead  of  street-lamps  and  vaccina- 
tion, which  were  abolished  as  revolutionary  novelties,  the 
restriction  of  the  Jews  in  their  Ghetto  was  restored.  The 
question  of  closing  their  quarter  every  evening  was  dis- 
cussed. This  point  was  yielded,  but  it  was  insisted  that 
three  hundred  Jews  should  listen  to  a  sermon  for  their 
conversion  every  Saturday. 

Social  conditions  went  back  even  more.  Everything 
was  farmed  out,  even  the  victualling  of  prisoners,  and 
the  farmers  economised  on  the  fare  of  these  unfortunates 
(mostly  political  criminals  who  failed  to  acknowledge  the 
benefits  of  the  most  legitimate  of  all  monarchies),  and  so 
saved  themselves  from  loss. 

Regular  treaties  were  made  with  the  brigands,  Con- 
salvi  having  furnished  the  model.  Robbery  and  assassin- 
ation became  the  order  of  the  day  to  such  an  extent  that 
the  accounts  of  these  events  form  a  special  department 
of  literature  in  the  next  ten  or  twenty  years.  And  while 
robbers  received  annuities  and  the  police  left  a  free  field 
to  the  bandits,  police  spies  were  placed  in  the  service  of 
the  politico-ecclesiastical  inquisition. 

The  administration  of  finance  fell  into  such  confusion 
that  in  1816  and  1817  an  association  of  counterfeiters 
could  operate  for  a  considerable  time  with  impunity. 
Even  the  funds  of  benevolent  institutions  were  robbed  to 
a  degree  which  passes  belief.     Nowhere  did  the  Bourse 


The  States  of  the  Church  imder  Pitts  VII.       69 

grow  into  such  an  upas-tree  as  here  in  the  paradise  of 
priests.  The  famous  rich  bankers,  who  received  papal 
titles  as  counts  and  princes,  have  almost  all  strange 
antecedents. 

The  feeling  among  the  best  people  about  this  sort  of 
"  restoration  "  soon  became  evident.  There  were  risings 
as  early  as  the  years  18 16  and  18 17.  Nor  were  these  due 
to  the  notorious  secret  associations.  The  correct  papal 
doctrine  teaches  that  all  the  evil  in  the  world  comes  from 
the  Carbonari,  the  Freemasons,  and  the  Protestant  sects, 
and  in  the  first  ten  years  of  the  Restoration  a  number  of 
books  were  published  about  the  Carbonari,  which  the 
young  diplomats  used  as  true  histories.  Only  these 
accounts  forgot  to  state  that  the  first  model  of  a  secret 
society  was  that  of  the  Jesuits,  and  that  their  own  polit- 
ical allies,  such  as  Cardinal  Ruffo's  Sanfedisti,  had  learned 
the  art  of  conspiracy  from  the  Jesuits.  The  Carbonari  in 
their  turn  got  their  methods  from  the  Sanfedisti,  besides 
following  them  in  tracing  their  origin  to  remote  antiquity. 

The  secret  association  of  the  Carbonari  (charcoal-burn- 
ers), as  far  as  we  can  trace  it,  was  founded  under  Napoleon, 
in  France,  by  irreconcilable  Republicans,  and  was  then 
carried  to  Naples,  when  Murat  became  king  in  18 10.  At 
a  time  when  there  was  a  general  desire  to  get  rid  of  for- 
eign rule  in  Italy  it  seemed  to  offer  the  best  means  to 
that  end,  and  the  society  spread  over  the  whole  kingdom. 
The  importance  of  the  association  was  enhanced  when 
Murat  himself,  in  181 5,  entered  into  alliance  with  the 
conspirators,  intending  to  use  their  plan  for  the  unifica- 
tion of  Italy  to  further  his  own  interest.  The  Neapoli- 
tan troops  carried  the  association  into  the  states  of  the 
Church.  Murat  was  defeated,  dethroned,  and  executed; 
but  the  association,  far  from  being  broken  up,  spread 
over  all  Italy.  It  derived  its  chief  importance  from  its 
opposition  to  the  ill-considered  measures  of  the  restored 


70  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Cenhiry 

Papacy  in  the  administration  of  the  states  of  the  Church. 
The  anathema  hurled  at  the  Carbonari  would  have  been 
effective  only  if  the  abuses  had  ceased  at  the  same  time. 

The  year  1820  showed  the  glowing  of  the  embers 
under  the  ashes.  The  revolution  broke  out  in  Spain 
and  soon  spread  to  Naples  and  Piedmont.  Fermentation 
at  once  began  in  the  states  of  the  Church.  It  did  not 
come  to  a  public  outbreak,  because  the  Austrians  soon 
marched  in  and  put  down  the  rising  in  Naples  and  Pied- 
mont. But  this  forcible  restraint  of  popular  feeling  was 
only  outwardly  effective.  Niebuhr's  letters  of  1820  and 
1 82 1  repeatedly  express  his  fear  that  the  states  of  the 
Church  might  be  carried  away  by  these  movements. 

To  the  great  Powers  of  the  Restoration  the  papal 
measures  of  administration  appeared  so  imprudent,  that 
in  May,  1821,  they  issued  a  common  note,  which  cen- 
sured certain  defects  and  proposed  improvements.  These 
propositions  were  ignored,  as  were  many  that  followed; 
nevertheless,  these  demands  for  such  reforms  as  seemed 
indispensable  to  the  Powers  of  the  Restoration  after  the 
movement  of  1820  are  among  the  most  important  signs 
of  the  times.  All  the  more  because  they  proceeded  from 
such  men  as  Niebuhr,  who,  as  even  his  great  admirer, 
Mrs.  von  Bunsen,  says,  could  find  no  other  cause  for  the 
revolution  in  Naples  than  the  influence  of  the  Jacobite 
spirit  of  destruction.  This,  he  thought,  could  be  sup- 
pressed only  by  force. 

The  diplomats  in  Rome  needed  no  special  powers  of 
observation  to  discover  the  heel  of  Achilles  of  the  Papacy, 
which  even  in  the  days  of  Boccaccio  and  Machiavelli  had 
been  very  evident.  But  this  appreciation  of  the  tem- 
poral power  as  the  Papacy's  vulnerable  point  led  them  to 
wrong  conclusions,  and  their  expectations  that  the  in- 
evitable loss  of  secular  dominion  would  carry  with  it  the 
forfeiture  of  the  Papacy's  commanding  position  in  the 
spiritual  sphere  were  doomed  to  disappointment. 


CHAPTER  V 

POPE    LEO   XII.    (1823-1829) 

THE  nature  and  consequences  of  the  principles  which 
governed  the  actions  of  Pius  VH.  became  more  and 
more  evident  under  the  reign  of  his  successor.  Upon  the 
death  of  Pius  (August  21,  1823),  the  Cardinal  Annibale 
della  Genga  was  chosen,  and  assumed  the  name  of  Leo 
Xn,  As  nuncio  in  Lucerne  and  Cologne,  Munich  and 
Paris,  he  had  made  himself  known  as  an  expert  and  as- 
tute diplomat ;  in  Paris  he  had,  after  a  sharp  personal 
conflict,  yielded  to  the  jealousy  of  Consalvi.  After  the 
Restoration  of  18 14,  therefore,  he  at  once  joined  the 
Zelanti  as  the  enemy  of  Consalvi.  His  election  in  the  con- 
clave was  a  victory  for  this  party.  No  sooner,  however, 
was  he  initiated  into  Consalvi's  plans  than  he  recognised 
in  the  latter  his  master,  and  continued  to  follow  with 
energy  the  paths  he  had  marked  out. 

It  was  a  remarkable  lesson  which  the  new  pope  received 
from  the  secretary  of  his  predecessor.  In  a  lecture  of 
several  hours'  duration,  whose  gist  is  known  to  us  through 
Consalvi's  own  communication  to  the  French  ambassa- 
dor, the  duke  of  Laval,  he  gave  to  his  present  chief  a 
survey  of  all  the  various  countries  and  the  connections 
which  he  had  formed  in  them.  From  France,  Spain, 
England,  and  Austria,  to  Russia  and  the  South  Ameri- 
can republics,  he  opened  up  perspectives  of  the  future, 
and  filled  his  former  opponent  with  such  admiration,  that 
Leo  afterwards  pronounced  his  predecessor  fortunate  in 

71 


72  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

having  had  such  a  minister.  Everywhere  was  shown  pru- 
dent consideration  of  existing  circumstances,  consistent 
"  dissimulation  "  of  antagonistic  principles,  at  the  same 
time  everywhere  magnificent  expectations.  Giving  equal 
consideration  to  Bourbons  and  Bonapartes,  outwardly 
yielding  towards  the  Spanish  court,  but  at  the  same  time 
making  advances  towards  the  insurgent  colonies  of  South 
and  Central  America,  in  Poland  adding  fuel  to  the  ec- 
clesiastical opposition,  and  counting  upon  the  good  will  of 
Austria,  which  had  "  never  yet  proved  obstinate," — such 
was  Consalvi's  own  representation  of  his  political  prin- 
ciples, while  at  the  same  time  he  pointed  to  the  successes 
which  were  expected  in  England,  and  as  a  new  means  of 
agitation  advised  the  proclamation  of  a  year  of  jubilee. 

Out  of  gratitude  for  this  view  of  the  future  which  he 
had  opened  up,  Leo  XII.  appointed  Consalvi  prefect  of 
the  Propaganda.  Though  the  latter  died  soon  after 
(January,  1824),  the  principles  of  his  policy  remained. 
The  accession  to  the  throne  of  the  candidate  of  the  Ze- 
lanti  was  marked  only  by  a  more  decided  emphasising  of 
the  lines  drawn  under  Pius  VII. 

I  A  circumstance  characteristic  of  the  accelerated  re- 
action under  the  present  reign  was  the  permission  given" 
by  Leo  XII.  for  the  publication  of  two  writings,  whose 
issue  Consalvi,  from  motives  of  political  prudence,  had 
prohibited,  j  One,  by  the  Dominican  Philippo  Anfossi, 
declared  the  restitution  of  spiritual  property  necessary 
for  the  salvation  of  those  who  had  obtained  such  property 
without  the  sanction  of  the  holy  see.  The  other,  by 
Carolo  Fea  (superintendent  of  the  Capitoline  Museum 
and  the  Chigi  Library),  maintained  the  supremacy  of  the 
papal  see  over  temporal  princes  and  in  temporal  things. 
Before  this  he  had  only  been  allowed  to  prove  the  dog- 
matic infallibility  of  the  pope. 

Not  only  were  others  permitted,  under  the  new  pontifi- 
cate, to  express  such  views;  Leo  himself  acted   in  the 


Pope  Leo  XII.  73 

same  spirit.  As  cardinal,  he  had  been  considered  no 
friend  of  the  Jesuits.  As  pope  he  showed  them  more 
favour  than  his  predecessor.  Soon  after  his  accession 
the  Collegium  Romanum  was  restored  to  the  Jesuits,  on 
which  occasion  their  sacred  customs  and  their  great  learn- 
insf  were  extolled ;  and  the  various  memoirs  of  these 
times  tell  of  the  continued  increase  of  their  possessions 
in  Rome  during  the  following  years. 

The  new  encyclical  of  Leo  XII.  (May  5,  1824)  con- 
demned, under  the  name  of  tolerantism,  liberty  of  faith 
and  of  conscience,  and  anathematised  the  Bible  societies. 
The  spread  of  the  Bible  in  the  language  of  the  people 
was  called  a  fatal  practice,  a  godless  invention,  which, 
by  means  of  perverted  interpretation,  was  making  of  the 
Bible  a  gospel  of  the  devil.  The  condemnation  of  dis- 
senters was  more  specifically  emphasised  in  the  brief  of 
the  2d  of  July,  1826,  to  the  clergy  of  Poitiers:  "  Every- 
one who  separates  himself  from  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  however  otherwise  blameless  his  manner  of  life, 
has  on  account  of  this  one  crime,  because  he  is  excluded 
from  the  unity  of  Christ,  no  part  in  the  eternal  life; 
God's  wrath  hangs  over  him." 

Following  the  advice  of  Consalvi,  Leo  ordered  a  jubilee 
for  the  year  1825 — to  the  praise  of  God  for  the  victory 
over  the  Revolution.  Special  indulgences  were  pro- 
claimed for  prayers  in  behalf  of  the  extirpation  of  heresy. 
With  the  jubilee  was  connected  the  beatification  of  the 
Spanish  minorite  Julianus.  The  accounts  of  the  miracles 
upon  which  his  claims  were  based,  and  which  were  pic- 
torially  represented  in  St.  Peter's  Church,  were  so  auda- 
cious as  to-4airly  challenge  modern  ethics  and  modern 
culture.  ;One  of  the  three  miracles  required  for  the 
beatification  pretended  that  the  new  saint  had  caused 
half -roasted  birds  to  fly  away  from  the  spit.' J 

'  The  Romans  thought  a  saint  who  should  reverse  the  process  deserved 
the  preference  (Nielsen). 


74  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Ce7ztiLry 

The  pomp  of  the  processions  during  the  year  of  jubilee 
was  extraordinary.  The  Propaganda  boasted  that  during 
this  time  1 50  Protestant  and  Jewish  souls  had  been  rescued 
from  damnation.  The  duke  of  Angouleme  ^  received  the 
holy  sword.  Frederick  the  Great,  in  his  time,  had  laughed 
at  this  sword,  when  his  enemy,  the  Austrian  general, 
Daun,  received  it  (after  the  battle  of  Hochkirchen,  1758). 
Now  it  gave  a  new  glory  to  the  man  who  put  down  the 
Spanish  revolution  and  restored  Ferdinand  VII.  (1823). 
The  widowed  queen  of  Sardinia  received  the  golden 
rose. 

The  populace,  in  Rome  expressed  its  opinion  of  the 
successes  of  this  year  of  jubilee  by  setting  up  a  large 
bottle  {fiasco"^)',  and  behind  a  pious  exterior  was  con- 
cealed the  worst  kind  of  immorality.  But  to  the  world 
without  the  jubilee  had  placed  the  Papacy  in  a  glowing 
light.  And  to  follow  up  the  advantage,  the  indulgences 
were  extended  to  other  countries  for  the  first  half  of  the 
year  1826,  the  year  following  the  jubilee. 

The  reign  of  Leo  XII.  is  also  marked  by  acquisitions 
of  a  more  substantial  nature,  the  fruits  of  the  prudent 
policy  of  Consalvi.  A  number  of  new  concordats  were 
negotiated :  among  these  was  the  concordat  with  Han- 
over, which  had  held  out  for  some  time,  but  now  was 
obliged  to  take  shelter  under  the  bull  of  circumscription 
for  Prussia  (1827).  Of  great  importance  for  the  papal 
policy  was  the  reorganisation  of  the  ecclesiastical  pro- 
vince of  the  Upper  Rhine.  This  included  the  dissolution 
of  the  see  of  Constance  and  the  definitive  removal  of 
Wessenberg.' 

'  Commander  of  the  French  forces  which  invaded  Spain  in  1823  and  sup- 
pressed the  revolution. 

^  A  bottle  (Jiasco)  was  found  cut  in  the  wall  of  St.  Peter's  close  by  the 
dooi  by  which  on  the  previous  day  the  pope  had  entered  in  solemn  proces- 
sion to  open  the  year  of  jubilee. 

^  See  note  i,  page  33. 


Pope  Leo  XII.  75 

A  further  victory  was  inaugurated  by  the  brief  con- 
cerning the  newly  founded  see  of  Basle.  The  conference 
of  the  state  diocese  was  able  to  oppose  only  a  theoretical 
claim  of  independent  state-rights  to  the  papal  pretensions 
which  this  brief  contained.  The  same  is  true  of  the  con- 
cordat with  the  Netherlands,  which  paralysed  the  last 
remnant  of  governmental  authority  in  the  revolution- 
loving  provinces. 

Besides  the  European  concordats,  there  were  those 
with  the  South  American  republics,  which,  with  their 
newly  awakened  love  of  political  freedom,  had  begun  to 
aspire  to  ecclesiastical  independence.  They  now  became 
sons  of  the  Vatican,  more  obedient  even  than  their 
brothers  in  the  mother-country  of  Spain.  In  these  more 
than  half-barbarous  lands  it  was  possible  to  introduce 
once  more  the  unadulterated  principles  of  the  Curia, 
especially  its  intolerance  towards  dissenters.  The  same 
countries  were  afterwards  held  up  by  the  reactionaries  of 
Europe  as  the  ideal  of  the  true  liberty  of  the  Church. 

Thus  was  the  Church  newly  established  on  both  sides 
of  the  ocean  and  everywhere  the  vacant  bishoprics  re- 
stored ;:^nd  all  along  the  line  we  see  the  victory  of  the 
papal  principle  over  the  old  rights  of  the  national 
churchesJ 

These  triumphs  of  the  papal  policy  all  appear  as  the 
ripened  fruits  of  the  seed  sown  by  Consalvi.  Leo's  sec- 
retary of  state,  the  aged  Sommaglia,  did  not  equal  his 
predecessor  in  diplomatic  skill;  but  the  pope  found  a 
satisfactory  substitute  in  Bernetti.  The  latter  had  in- 
herited from  Consalvi  the  art  of  appearing  liberal  towards 
the  politicians,  and  thereby  making  the  guileless  phrase- 
ology of  the  Curia  current  among  these  very  politicians. 
Scarcely  less  important  were  the  services  now  rendered 
by  Monsignore  Capaccini,  also  a  pupil  of  Consalvi,  whom 
the  latter  had  drawn  from  a  mathematical  professorship 
into  the  diplomatic  service.     Bunsen,  in  spite  of  later 


76  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

disappointments,  continued  to  preserve  a  kind  remem- 
brance of  him,  and  in  1828  he  warmly  recommended  him 
to  the  English  nobility.  Capaccini,  on  this  same  journey 
to  England,  sought  to  persuade  the  old  Catholic  arch- 
bishop of  Utrecht  that  it  was  his  first  duty  as  a  Christian 
to  do  violence  to  his  own  convictions  and  render  a  blind 
obedience  to  the  pope.  In  England  he  undertook  to 
quiet  the  fears  of  statesmen  in  regard  to  the  policy  of 
the  Curia.  At  the  same  time  the  Irish  bishops,  with  the 
assent  of  the  papal  legate,  declared  officially  that  the 
theory  of  papal  infallibility  was  not  in  accordance  with 
Catholic  Church  doctrine.  The  so-called  emancipation 
of  the  Catholics  (1829),  founded  upon  this  declaration, 
was  one  of  the  first  events  of  the  following  papal  reign ; 
to  Leo  XII.  belongs  the  merit  of  having  prepared  the 
way  for  it. 

All  these  successes  would  not  have  been  possible  had 
not  the  spirit  of  the  times  now,  as  before,  been  favour- 
able. For  the  action  of  the  several  governments,  which 
after  the  suppression  of  the  revolutions  in  Naples  and 
Spain  (1820-23)  made  the  muzzling  of  popular  aspirations 
their  first  concern,  was  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the 
Papacy;  and  with  this  factor  we  must  couple  another, 
equally  favourable  to  the  Papacy, — the  prevailing  tend- 
ency in  the  still  fashionable  French  literature. 

Lamennais'  celebrated  journey  to  Rome  took  place 
before  the  year  of  jubilee,  1825.  He  was  everywhere 
hailed  as  conqueror.  His  fervent  propagandism  in  be- 
half of  the  conception  of  liberty,  which  Gregory  VII.  and 
Boniface  VIII.  had  represented  in  opposition  to  the 
temporal  rulers,  prepared  a  welcome  for  him  in  Rome 
such  as  a  simple  author  had  never  yet  received  from  the 
wearer  of  the  tiara.  The  pope  hung  Lamennais'  picture 
in  his  bedroom.  He  offered  him  the  cardinal's  hat,  and 
made  him  rich  presents.     Besides  several  audiences,  he 


Pope  Leo  XII.  77 

invited  him  to  an  intimate  conversation.  The  pope  him- 
self ordered  apartments  for  him  in  the  Roman  college, 
later  he  was  offered  rooms  in  the  Vatican.  Cardinals  and 
prelates  vied  in  their  efforts  to  make  his  acquaintance. 
Among  all  these  honours,  Lamennais  thought  much  of 
the  fact  that  several  Jesuits  visited  and  expressed  their 
agreement  with  him.  In  later  times  Wiseman  said  of 
Lamennais'  journey  to  Rome:  "  He  stood  at  this  time 
at  the  summit  of  his  fame,  and  was  considered  one  of  the 
most  highly  gifted  representatives,  not  only  of  the  faith 
but  also  of  the  strictest  Roman  principles." 

The  significance  of  Lamennais  and  of  the  ideas  for 
which  he  stood  represents  an  important  chapter  in  the 
history  of  French  and  Belgic  Catholicism.  Even  before 
his  journey  to  Rome  he  had  exercised  an  increasing  in- 
fluence in  favour  of  the  papal  system,  by  a  whole  series 
of  writings  as  reckless  as  they  were  brilliant.  The  jour- 
ney to  Rome  gave  the  highest  authorisation  to  his  activ- 
ity. After  his  return  from  Rome  he  began  his  war  of 
extermination  against  Gallicanism,  a  war  which  became 
fatal  in  its  influence  upon  the  history  of  France;  and  the 
blessing  of  Leo  XIL,  as  well  as  of  his  successor,  accom- 
panied him  in  this  work.  But  the  Lamennais  of  the  first 
period  can  only  be  understood  as  the  representative  of  a 
general  and  growing  tendency,  whose  after-effects  meet 
us  in  all  lands,  and  are  not  at  all  confined  to  the  Church.' 

While  thus  the  power  of  the  Papacy  as  a  spiritual 
institution  was  being  strengthened,  the  temper  of  the 
population  of  the  Church-state  was  becoming  from  year 
to  year  more  hostile  to  the  papal  monarchy.  The  reign 
of  Leo  Xn.  shows  in  this  respect  a  remarkable  change  in 
comparison  with  that  of  Pius  VIL  There  is  no  doubt 
that  the  personalities  of  the  two  popes  made  a  great 

*  Lamennais  died  a  most  determined  opponent  of  the  Church  of  Rome 
(1854). 


yS  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

difference.  Pius  VII. ,  the  persecuted  martyr,  the  mild  and 
amiable  man,  had  formed  many  personal  friendships  even 
among  the  enemies  of  the  papal  policy.  His  monument, 
for  which  Consalvi  had  left  a  considerable  sum,  was 
executed  by  the  Danish  Protestant,  Thorwaldsen.  The 
lines  of  his  face  bear  a  mild  and  soft  expression.  Grego- 
rovius  tells  us,  in  his  masterly  work  on  the  sepulchral 
monuments  of  the  popes,  that  the  princes  of  the  Church 
of  the  time  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  appear  so  thoroughly 
typical  of  this  warlike  period  that  they  would  be  in  place 
in  the  camp  of  Tilly  or  of  Wallenstein  ;  the  monument  of 
Pius  VII.,  on  the  other  hand,  reminds  one  of  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  Revolutionary  era,  which  won  so  much  sym- 
pathy for  the  pope. 

These  personal  sympathies  were  wanting  to  Leo  XII. 
His  earlier  and  later  life  had  shown  contrasts  somewhat 
too  highly  coloured.  As  nuncio  in  Germany  and  in 
France  della  Genga  was  known  to  be  the  father  of  a  large 
family  of  illegitimate  children.  So  much  the  greater  was 
the  outward  appearance  of  piety  which  Leo  XII.  as  pope 
assumed,  more  especially  in  his  precepts  for  others. 
Priests  were  forbidden  round  hats,  short  coats,  and 
worldly  neckties.  Special  prescriptions  were  given  for 
the  dress  of  women.  Attendance  upon  church  was 
forced  upon  the  Jews  more  strictly  than  under  Pius  VII., 
their  ghetti  were  surrounded  by  walls,  all  mercantile  con- 
tracts between  them  and  Christians  were  declared  invalid. 
Theatres,  even  private  ones,  were  placed  under  strict 
censorship ;  also  the  products  of  science.  The  scientific 
standard  of  the  censors  under  Leo  XII.  may  be  judged 
by  the  fact  that  one  of  them  confiscated  the  writings  of 
Galvani  (the  discoverer  of  "  galvanism  "),  confounding 
them  with  the  works  of  Calvin. 

With  such  a  spirit  animating  the  government  it  is  not 
a  matter  of  surprise  that  the  disposition  towards  it  of  the 
population,  especially  that  part  which  expected  something 


Pope  Leo  XII.  79 

more  from  the  state  than  panem  et  circenses,  was  not 
favourable.  The  ill  will  of  the  Romans  increased  every 
year  after  \\v&  fiasco  of  the  year  of  jubilee.  The  pope 
was  obliged,  in  the  year  1826,  to  enlarge  the  prisons  of 
the  Inquisition;  at  the  same  time  he  hurled  renewed 
anathemas  against  Carbonari  and  Freemasons.  The 
effect  was  the  same  as  before. 

Valuable  light  is  thrown  upon  the  reign  of  Leo  XII.  by 
Dollinger  in  his  CJiurcJi  a?id  67^/^^^/^^^  (published  in  1861); 
and  since  the  events  of  1870  there  is  ar\  added  interest  in 
comparing  the  conclusions  which  the  author  lays  down 
in  this  work  with  the  subsequent  course  of  events.  The 
book  is  the  most  brilliant  and  most  enthusiastic  pleading 
for  the  primacy  of  the  Papacy,  the  most  acute  and  able 
polemic  against  the  churches  separated  from  the  Papacy. 
Nevertheless,  it  cost  the  author  the  irreconcilable  resent- 
ment of  the  papal  party. 

The  explanation  of  the  apparent  contradiction  lies  in 
the  historical  portraits  which  he  draws  of  the  popes. 
Nothing  which  could  be  said  to  the  credit  of  any  of  them 
is  forgotten.  Of  Leo  XII.  he  says  (p.  555)  not  only  that 
"  the  sick,  weakly  pope  worked  indefatigably,"  but  we 
learn  that  he  was  animated  by  the  best  purpose,  that  he 
felt  how  unbearable  the  present  conditions  and  institu- 
tions were,  and  only  deceived  himself  as  to  the  choice  of 
means  and  in  his  effort  to  put  new  life  into  what  was 
dead.  What,  then,  was  the  result  of  his  reign  ?  The 
restoration  of  the  Inquisition,  the  institution  of  a  widely 
ramified  system  of  espionage  for  watching  over  officials 
and  the  morals  of  the  people.  Besides  this,  the  surrender 
of  the  entire  system  of  education  into  the  hands  of  the 
clergy,  the  reintroduction  of  the  Latin  language  in  the 
legal  processes  of  several  tribunals,  and  prohibition  of 
vaccination.  This  is  Dollinger's  summing  up:  "  Leo's 
administration  became  the  most  unpopular  of  any  for  the 


8o  The  Papacy  171  the  igth  Cenhc^y 

past  hundred  years."  The  sources  upon  which  this  judg- 
ment is  founded  are  the  annals  of  Coppi,  the  highly 
esteemed  Roman  prelate,  who  was  himself  frequently 
consulted  in  state  affairs,  and  the  official  reports  of  the 
French  ambassador,  Chateaubriand. 

Not  only  did  native  Romans  become,  under  the  second 
of  the  Restoration  popes,  more  inimical  to  the  papal 
power  than  under  his  predecessor;  keen-sighted  foreign 
observers  also,  even  when  they  came  to  Rome  full  of 
sympathy  for  the  fight  that  the  Papacy  in  its  stronghold 
waged  against  modern  infidelity,  found  themselves  bitterly 
disappointed.  As  second  chaplain  attached  to  the  Prus- 
sian embassy,  young  Richard  Rothe  '  was  called  to  Rome 
at  the  time  of  the  change  of  popes.  During  his  univer- 
sity studies  at  Heidelberg  he  had  fallen  under  the  influ- 
ence of  a  strongly  "catholicising"  conception  of  the 
Church.  He  began  to  admire  Gregory  VH.,  and  became 
enamoured  of  a  character  like  that  of  Frangois  de  Sales. 
In  this  mood  he  came  to  Rome.  Here  he  soon  received 
a  very  different  idea  of  the  Papacy  and  its  satellites.  He 
became,  indeed,  more  imbued  with  the  noble  magnificence 
of  the  Catholic  Church-ideal,  but  he  now  learned  to  make 
a  clear  distinction  between  Papalism  and  Catholicism. 

After  a  short  stay  in  Rome  (a  few  months  before  the 
accession  of  Leo  XH.)  Rothe  writes  that  it  is  impossible 
for  him  to  describe  how  the  Roman  cult  disgusts  him. 
In  speaking  of  the  first  "  circular  letter  "  of  the  new  pope, 
he  characterises  "  the  incredibly  impudent  tone  "  as  most 
offensive.  His  letters  give  vivid  but  melancholy  pictures 
of  the  Anno  santo  and  the  new  saints.  The  year  of  jubilee 
moves  him  to  complain  that  the  Church  in  Rome  has 
become  a  perfect  institution  for  excise.  As  the  founda- 
tion of  the  whole  Roman  system  he  recognises  complete 
religious  infidelity.     He  entered  into  controversy  with  a 

'  The  celebrated  German  theologian,  author  of  Theological  Ethics, 


Pope  Leo  Xn.  8i 

Jesuit  father,  but  found  his  opponent  too  far  beneath 
any  possible  intellectual  standard.  The  sum  and  sub- 
stance of  his  judgment  of  what  he  learned  in  Rome  is 
given  in  the  following  words : 

The  Catholic  Church  in  this  place  has  no  conception  of  the 
spiritual  life  which  since  the  Reformation  has  developed  in 
European  Christendom.  One  becomes  here  more  and  more 
convinced  that  the  Reformation  gave  birth  to  a  really  new 
spiritual  world.  What  would  have  become  of  Europe,  not 
only  as  regards  religion,  but  also  in  science,  art,  and  politics, 
without  the  Reformation  ? 

The  desperate  struggle  of  the  Curia  against  Protestant- 
ism appeared  to  him  in  Rome  so  entirely  hopeless  that  he 
says :  "  In  order  to  become  indifferent  to  all  machinations 
of  Catholicism  against  Protestantism,  and  to  lose  all  fear 
of  the  former,  one  needs  only  come  to  Rome." 

The  death  of  Leo  XII.  (February  12,  1829)  occurred 
under  such  striking  circumstances  that  even  the  Swiss 
guard  on  duty  spoke  of  poisoning,  and  Massimo  d'Azeglio 
expressed  the  same  suspicion.  Hase  says:  "  He  made 
himself  generally  hated  in  Rome;  from  prince  to  beggar, 
nobody  was  his  friend."  In  a  letter  written  by  Bunsen's 
wife,  published  in  his  biography,  she  says : 

The  simultaneous  deaths  of  the  pope  and  the  banker  Tor- 
Ionia  have  brought  out  the  most  striking  contrast  in  the  public 
opinion;  the  death  of  Torlonia  was  universally  lamented,  while 
that  of  the  pope  was  received  with  indecent  joy.  The  time  of 
the  year  in  which  it  took  place  (that  is,  the  interference  which 
it  caused  with  the  carnival)  was  the  only  circumstance  con- 
nected with  it  which  was  not  welcome  to  the  populace  of  Rome. 

Bunsen  recognised  more  clearly  than  most  of  his  con- 
temporaries the  spirit  of  the  restored  Papacy.  But  it 
was  only  in  sleepless  nights  that  he  thought  of  the  dan- 
ger which  it  threatened  to  the  modern  state  or  the  Pro- 
testant Church. 


CHAPTER   VI 


PIUS   VIII.    (1829-1830),    AND   THE    REVOLUTION   OF 

1830 

LEO  XII.  was  succeeded  by  the  aged  and  sickly  Pius 
VIII,,  who  died  within  a  year.  So  short  a  reign 
could  produce  no  important  changes;  its  historical  char- 
acter consists  in  carrying  forward  the  principles  of  the 
Restoration. 

Only  diplomats  who  have  no  real  understanding  for 
ecclesiastical  questions  speak  of  liberal  or  illiberal  popes. 
The  fact  is  that  all  individuals,  no  matter  what  their  differ- 
ences, have  to  yield  to  the  machinery  of  the  Curia.  Pius 
VIII.  in  some  aspects  of  his  character  may  remind  us  of 
Pius  VII.,  and  Pius  IX.  resembled  both  in  that  the  first 
phase  of  his  reign  was  characterised  by  greater  mildness. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  sharp,  rugged,  ungenial  nature  of 
Leo  XII.  seemed  to  be  renewed  in  Gregory  XVI.,  and 
then  to  a  greater  degree  in  Leo  XIII.  But  the  course 
of  the  papal  policy  has  remained  invariably  the  same 
under  the  government  of  one  and  all.  fit  is  this  un- 
changeableness  of  policy  which  has  found  its  mystical 
expression  in  the  dogma  of  infallibility .j 

Pope  Pius  VIII.,  formerly  Cardinal  Castiglioni,  has 
been  pictured  as  a  man  of  mild  spirit.  Like  the  former 
pope  whose  name  he  adopted,  he  had  suffered  under  the 
persecution  of  Napoleon.  The  process  of  his  election 
was  inaugurated  in  the  conclave  by  an  enthusiastic  speech 

82 


Pms  VIII.  83 

which  Chateaubriand  delivered,  who  as  French  ambassa- 
dor in  Rome  delighted  the  society  of  the  nobility,  but 
who  was  unable  to  change  the  course  of  politics. 

It  was  said  to  the  credit  of  the  new  pope  that  he  was 
freer  from  nepotism  than  his  predecessor.  But  his  first 
circular  letter  made  it  unmistakably  evident  that  from 
the  moment  of  the  "  ador:  tion  "  the  individual  was  lost 
in  the  system.  His  salutation  to  Christian  society  con- 
sisted in  the  customary  series  of  anathemas  against  liberty 
of  conscience  under  the  name  of  indifferentism,  against 
the  Bible-societies,  and  against  national  development  as 
represented  by  the  aspirations  of  Carbonari  and  Free- 
masons. 

The  renewed  anathemas  had  the  usual  effect.  Even 
under  the  short  reign  of  Pius  VIII.  there  were  disturb- 
ances in  the  Romagna.  It  was  during  this  reign  that 
Cardinal  Rivarola,  sent  to  quiet  these  movements,  con- 
demned at  one  stroke  509  persons  (among  them  30  noble- 
men, 156  owners  of  estates  or  merchants,  74  officials,  and 
38  soldiers).  It  was  considered  a  sign  of  special  leniency 
that  the  sentences  of  death  were  commuted  to  other 
punishments.  But  neither  strictness  nor  leniency  could 
improve  untenable  conditions.  Hardly  had  Pius  VIII. 
been  laid  in  his  grave  when  open  revolution  broke  out  in 
the  state  of  the  Church  itself. 

But,  however  weak  in  its  own  home,  even  this  short 
reign  chronicles  triumphs  in  foreign  politics.  A  few 
weeks  after  the  accession  of  Pius  VIII.  the  emancipation 
of  Catholics  in  England,  for  which  preparations  had  long 
been  made,  became  law  (April,  1829).  Wellington's  Tory 
ministry,  in  their  desire  to  outdo  the  Whigs,  carried  the 
emancipation  through  in  a  manner  which  did  not  stop 
with  satisfying  the  just  demands  of  the  times,  but  tore 
down  bulwarks  indispensable  for  the  protection  of  the 
state.     At  the  same  time  the  defections  to  the  Church  of 


84  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

Rome,  which  had  already  begun,  made  increasingly  rapid 
progress  among  the  upper  ten  thousand. 

In  the  same  year,  1829,  the  order  of  the  Jesuits  received 
in  the  person  of  the  Belgian  Roothaan  one  of  its  most 
capable  generals.  The  Company  had  spread  to  such  an 
extent  that  assistants  had  to  be  given  to  the  general  for 
the  four  provinces — France,  Spain,  Italy,  and  Germany. 

In  France,  the  well-wishers  of  the  order  had  come  to 
consider  its  triumph  assured  for  all  time.  The  opposition 
to  the  order  had  indeed  grown  so  powerful  during  the 
last  period  of  Leo  XII.  that,  in  spite  of  the  personal 
antipathies  of  Charles  X.,  it  brought  about  the  liberal 
ministry  of  Martignac  (1828).  This  ministry  did  attack 
the  root  of  the  evil :  by  the  ordinance  of  June  16,  1828,  it 
forbade  the  members  of  prohibited  congregations  to  per- 
form their  offices  in  the  smaller  seminaries.  But  for  this 
very  reason  it  had  soon  to  yield  to  the  intrigues  of  the 
court.  In  its  place  the  ministry  of  Polignac  was  called 
(1829),  the  very  incarnation  of  clericalism.  Its  work  was 
the  July  ordinances  of  1830.'  With  these  the  bottom 
was  knocked  out  of  the  barrel:  the  July  revolution  was 
effected  with  hardly  any  serious  conflict,  and  the  most 
popular  war-cry  of  the  opposition  was,  "  A  bas  les 
Jesuites." 

The  fall  of  the  friend  of  the  Jesuits  in  France,  Charles 
X.,  however  otherwise  unwelcome,  gave  to  the  Papacy 
an  opportunity  of  showing  itself  as  the  guardian  of  legit- 
imacy against  the  revolution.  Charles  had  done  more 
service  in  the  pope's  cause  than  anyone,  and  might 
surely  calculate  upon  the  solidarity  of  conservative  in- 
terests so  often  appealed  to  by  the  Curia.  But  the  pope 
was  by  no  means  of  that  mind  now.     The  papal  policy 

'  These  ordinances  of  Jul}'  26,  1830,  by  which  the  elections  recently  held 
were  declared  illegal,  the  electoral  system  changed  so  as  to  restrict  the 
suffrage  to  the  rich  landowners,  and  the  publication  of  newspapers  and 
pamphlets  without  the  royal  consent  was  prohibited,  were  the  immediate 
cause  of  the  revolution  of  1S30. 


Pius  VIII.  85 

did  not  for  a  moment  hesitate  to  sacrifice  the  royal  tool, 
just  as,  by  the  concordat  with  Napoleon,  it  had  sacrificed 
the  legitimate  pre-Revolutionary  bishops  of  France;  just 
as  in  after  times  it  was  to  sacrifice  the  German  bishops 
who  had  compromised  themselves  in  the  papal  interests. 
Charles  X.  had  been  more  papal  than  the  pope  himself. 
Consalvi,  in  his  time,  had  not  concealed  his  personal  con- 
tempt for  this  prince,  who  was  a  blind  devotee  of  the 
system  of  the  Restoration.  In  the  programme  which  he 
drew  up  for  Leo  XII.  he  said  expressly  that  it  would 
cost  the  pope  some  effort  to  induce  Louis  XVIII.  to 
forget  the  journey  of  Pius  VII.  to  Paris  for  the  coronation 
of  Napoleon,  but  that  the  king's  brother  (Charles  X.)  had 
never  heard  of  this  journey,  or  had  at  least  forgotten  it. 
But  Pius  VIII.  did  not  even  content  himself  with  leaving 
Charles  X.  in  the  lurch ;  shortly  before  his  death  he  ex- 
pressly made  it  the  duty  of  the  French  clergy  to  subject 
themselves  without  resistance  to  the  new  order  of  things, 
to  pray  for  the  new  ruler,  and  to  show  him  fidelity  and 
obedience. 

This  relation  of  the  Papacy  to  the  July  revolution  in 
France  exhibits  the  connection,  which  we  observe  else- 
where on  a  much  larger  scale,  between  the  Papacy  and 
the  revolutionary  movements  '  of  this  time.     Lamennais 

■  The  author's  contention  that  the  Church  of  Rome  has  regularly  sought 
and  obtained  profit  from  revolutionary  movements  is  confirmed  by  a  com- 
petent witness  in  regard  to  the  recent  riots  in  Milan.  Dr.  Nevin,  rector 
of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Rome,  writes  under  date  of  July  7,  i8g8,  in  a  com- 
munication to  The  Churchma7t,  as  follows  :  "  There  is  no  doubt  about  it,  that 
the  clerical  authorities  in  North  Italy,  for  some  time  since,  did  all  in  their 
power  to  stir  up  sedition  against  the  existing  government.  Any  tools  they 
could  find — socialistic  or  anarchical — they  have  been  not  slow  to  turn 
against  their  country.  And  the  country  had  a  close  call  last  May."  In  the 
same  letter  Dr.  Nevin  adds  this  interesting  information  :  "  Within  this 
month  six  Roman  priests  have  applied  to  me  here  to  be  received  into  the 
Church  as  a  refuge  from  the  impossible  evils  of  the  Papacy,  and  I  have  little 
doubt  but  that  a  movement  for  Catholic  reform  will  soon  arise  in  Rome 
itself." 


86  The  Papacy  m  the  igth  Century 

is  again  the  storm-bird  of  the  general  revolution ;  he  en- 
joyed the  blessing  of  Pius  VIII.  as  well  as  that  of  Leo 
XII.  After  his  brilliant  reception  in  Rome  by  Leo  XII. 
he  had  entered  into  the  second  phase  of  his  activity. 
His  first  beginning  had  been  as  the  pupil  of  de  Maistre 
in  the  struggle  against  political  revolution ;  now,  in  the 
name  of  the  Church,  standing  as  it  does  above  the  state, 
he  had  become  himself  the  leader  of  the  revolutionary 
movement. 

In  the  year  1829  appeared  his  work,  Concerning  the 
Progress  of  the  Revolution  and  of  the  War  against  the 
ChnrcJi.  The  subjection  of  the  state  to  the  infallible  pope 
was  here  preached,  quite  in  accord  with  the  bull,  Unam 
Sanctam,  of  Boniface  VIII.*  Gregory  VII.  was  repre- 
sented as  the  great  patriarch  of  European  liberty.  But 
the  living  pope  as  well  had  it  in  his  power — so  Lamennais 
declared — to  reduce  this  doctrine  to  a  present  fact  and  to 
depose  disobedient  princes;  for  it  is  the  Church  alone 
that  defends  liberty.  The  rapid  spread  of  this  work  sur- 
passed that  of  all  his  other  writings.  In  the  course  of 
the  year  1829  four  editions  appeared  in  Belgium  alone. 

Immediately  after  the  July  revolution  Lamennais 
founded  the  Avenir.  This  journal  soon  found  its  chief 
task  in  adding  fuel  to  the  insurrection  in  Belgium  (1830).'* 
At  the  same  time  he  laid  down  with  masterly  skill  the 
principles  intended  to  regulate  the  clerical  use  of  the 
press,  which  through  him  became  a  factor  in  papal  poli- 
tics. A  "  general  agency  for  the  defence  of  religious 
liberty "  was  likewise  founded  by  his  associates,  and 
spread  its  ramifications  over  the  whole  of  Europe. 

Lamennais  not  long  after  experienced  the  same  fate  as 

'  1302  A.D.  ;  "  Subesse  Romano  Pontifici,  omni  humanae  creaturce  declar- 
amus — omnino  esse  de  necessitate  salutis." 

^  The  most  serious  consequences  of  the  French  July  revolution  of  1830 
were  the  revolutions  in  the  United  Netherlands  (Holland  and  Belgium, 
united  by  the  Congress  of  Vienna)  and  in  Poland. 


Pius  VI I  I.  87 

Charles  X,  As  soon  as  he  had  done  his  duty  he  was 
dismissed.  But  as  long  as  Pius  VIII.  reigned,  whatever 
Lamennais  did  found  favour  with  the  Curia.  The  con- 
stitution of  Belgium,  with  its  mixture  of  liberal  and  cleri- 
cal phrases,  bears  the  stamp  of  his  thought.  The  leaders 
of  the  revolution  in  Poland  (1830),  like  Lamennais, 
preached  liberty  in  the  sense  of  Gregory  VII.  O'Con- 
nell,  the  leader  of  the  repeal  agitation  in  Ireland,  with 
all  his  oratorical  gifts,  was  intellectually  the  pupil  of 
Lamennais. 

Tlie  influence  of  the  ideas  represented  by  Lamennais 
was  very  effective  towards  the  increase  of  the  papal 
power.  And  this  proves  anew  that  the  restored  Papacy, 
as  well  as  the  greatest  of  its  predecessors, —  Gregory  I., 
Nicholas  I.,  Gregory  VIL,  and  Innocent  III., — knew 
well  how  to  draw  the  vital  ideas  of  the  time  into  its 
service.  For  Lamennais  is  to  be  understood  only  as  the 
incarnation  of  modern  ideas.  The  last  period  of  his  life 
proved  unequivocally  that  to  satisfy  the  longings  and 
strivings  of  the  nations  was  the  sacred  object  of  his 
endeavour. 

The  prudent  use,  however,  which  the  Papacy  made  of 
his  ideas  reveals  to  us  only  in  part  the  Curia's  attitude 
towards  the  revolutionary  movements.  To  fully  under- 
stand this  attitude,  we  must  not  confine  our  survey  to 
the  ideal  enthusiasm  of  Lamennais  and  his  friends;  we 
must  also  take  into  view  the  more  remote  causes  of  the 
revolution  in  each  separate  state. 

To  begin  with  Belgium:  the  events  of  the  year  1830 
throw  light  upon  the  nature  of  the  liberty  which  the 
clerical  party  there  demanded.  The  complaints  against 
the  ruling  house  of  Orange  were  not  different  from  those 
which  at  the  close  of  the  last  century  had  been  made 
against  Joseph  II.  of  Austria.  The  first  grievance  urged 
in    the    pastoral    letters    of    the    bishops    against    the 


88  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

administration  of  the  United  Netherlands  was  that  equal 
rights  were  given  to  the  various  forms  of  worship ;  what, 
above  all,  they  demanded  was  the  suppression  of  dis- 
senters, by  the  restoration  of  the  ancient  prerogatives  of 
the  hierarchy.  In  Belgium  as  well  as  in  Austria  under 
Joseph,  spiritual  lust  of  power  concealed  itself  behind 
the  mask  of  liberty. 

We  find  the  same  abuse  of  liberty  as  a  popular  watch- 
word in  Poland  and  in  Ireland.  The  constitution,  which 
Czar  Alexander  I.  had  granted  to  the  Poles  in  1 8 1 5 , '  while 
he  denied  it  to  the  Russians,  promised  the  healing  of  old 
wounds,  and  held  out  the  prospect  of  a  better  future  to 
the  oppressed  estates.  The  historian  Gervinus,  himself 
a  true  liberal,  recognises  the  first  cause  of  the  Polish 
revolution  in  the  fact  that  the  improvements  which  had 
been  effected  in  the  social  condition  made  the  demagogues 
of  the  hierarchy  anxious  lest  the  people  should  gradually 
become  accustomed  to  the  new  order  of  things.  Even 
during  the  reign  of  Alexander  I. the  clergy  and  the  nobility 
had  laid  their  mines  for  a  violent  outbreak.  If  Nicholas 
(1825)  drew  the  reins  tighter,  the  reason  lay  in  the  extent 
to  which  the  revolutionary  parties  had  gained  ground. 
It  was  not,  however,  until  the  revolution  of  1830  to  1832 
had  done  its  work  that  the  unhappy  Poles  lost  all  that 
was  left  them  of  their  bright  prospects.  But  the  word 
liberty,  in  the  mouth  of  Roman  Polonism,  retained  in 
these    new   struggles  the  same  meaning  it  had    in    the 

'  The  new  kingdom  of  Poland  was  created  by  the  Congress  of  Vienna  in 
1815.  Alexander  I.  of  Russia,  who  was  made  king  of  Poland,  maintained 
the  independent  existence  of  the  state  of  Poland,  and  the  latter  was  joined 
to  Russia  by  mere  personal  union.  The  kingdom  of  Poland  kept  all  its 
institutions,  its  Roman  Catholic  Church,  its  schools  conducted  in  the  Polish 
language,  its  currency,  postal  system,  etc.  "  At  this  period  of  absolutism 
no  other  people  of  central  Europe  had  as  much  political  liberty  as  the 
Poles"  (Seignobos).  Nevertheless  agitation  was  immediately  begun  in 
Poland  against  the  Russian  government,  ending  in  the  insurrection  and  war 
of  1830  to  1832.  The  defeat  of  the  Poles  was  followed  by  the  complete 
wiping  out  of  Polish  independence  and  the  Russification  of  Poland. 


Pius  VIII.  89 

past.     It  meant  the  annihilation  of  every  other  form  of 
belief. 

In  Ireland  the  course  of  events  was  no  different.  Catho- 
lic emancipation  had  taken  place  a  year  before  the  July 
revolution  of  1830;  and  Catholic  emancipation  gave  the 
impulse  to  the  movement  for  the  repeal  of  the  Union. 
Not  until  after  the  emancipation  did  O'Connell  find  the 
time  ripe  for  his  demagogic  activity.  So-called  liberty 
of  conscience  served  in  Ireland  as  well  as  elsewhere  to 
fan  the  flames  of  religious  and  race  hatred. 

It  was  mainly  in  the  Roman  Catholic  countries,  Bel- 
gium, Poland,  and  Ireland,  that  the  French  July  revolu- 
tion of  1830  led  to  a  violent  overthrow.  But  the  same 
year  witnessed  for  the  first  time — though  even  now  only 
sporadically — similar  outbreaks  upon  Protestant  ground. 
The  so-called  revolutions  in  Switzerland  do  not  come 
under  this  category.  But  the  temper  of  the  spirits  in 
Germany  presents  a  striking  phenomenon,  for  in  the  dis- 
turbances of  1830  we  observe  essentially  the  same  tend- 
encies which  eighteen  years  later  won  a  temporary 
victory ;  and  these  tendencies  brought  forth  new  move- 
ments and  gave  to  the  history  of  the  times  an  entirely 
new  aspect,  presenting  a  decided  contrast  to  the  entire 
previous  development  of  the  reformed  countries. 

The  reason  of  this  contrast  between  the  past  and  the 
present  demands  impartial  examination.  But  where  else 
can  we  look  for  this  reason  except  in  the  prevailing  spirit 
of  the  Restoration  period,  in  its  diametrical  opposition  to 
the  ideals  of  the  Reformation  and  to  the  principles  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  and  its  disappointment  of  the 
just  expectations  of  the  wars  of  liberation  ? 

The  last  word  of  the  policy  of  Metternich  was  its  inter- 
national hatred  of  the  Reformation.  This,..policy  was 
transmitted  to  the  other  courts  of  Europe,  j  Everywhere 
national  aspirations  were  forcibly  suppressed  in  favour  of 


90  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

the  arbitrary  creations  of  diplomacy;  all  spiritual  life  was 
equally  suppressed  in  favour  of  a  hierarchy  which  the 
rulers  forced  upon  the  people.  In  short,  we  find  again 
the  same  principles  active  that  had  been  victorious  in  the 
counter-reformation  of  old.] 

Where  there  was  such  a  heaping  of  inflammable  ma- 
terial, it  was  unavoidable  that  the  sparks,  borne  with 
lightning  speed  from  France  over  the  various  countries, 
should  kindle  a  flame.  The  policy  of  the  rulers  was  once 
more  successful  in  suppressing  the  political  movement. 
But  the  irritation  of  the  popular  mind  found  vent  in 
other  spheres:  in  the  poetry  of  "  young  Germany,"  in 
the  dissolution,  by  Strauss  and  Feuerbach,  of  the  found- 
ations of  faith,  in  the  undermining  of  the  national  au- 
thority among  the  growing  generation. 

To  this  gradual  impairment  of  the  ethical  foundations  of 
the  national  life  are  also  to  be  traced  the  triumphs  which 
the  Vatican  won  over  the  state  in  the  revolutionary  dis- 
orders of  the  following  times.  But  events  were  happen- 
ing, under  the  inspiration  of  the  anti-revolutionary  spirit, 
with  its  centre  in  the  Curia,  which  even  at  this  early  date 
paved  the  way  still  more  directly  for  these  triumphs. 
Great  importance  belongs  to  the  reign  of  Pius  VIII.  in 
this  respect,  for  it  prepared  the  way  for  the  first  Prussian 
ecclesiastical  conflict  and  provided  the  means  for  stirring 
up  the  population  of  the  upper  Rhine  against  the  laws  of 
the  state.  Both  these  movements  belong  to  the  history 
of  German  Catholicism.  But  the  cause  of  both,  which 
lay  in  the  policy  of  the  Papacy  itself,  calls  for  our  atten- 
tion in  connection  with  the  reign  of  that  pope  who  played 
the  chief  part  in  the  business. 

The  concessions  which  the  Prussian  state  had  made 
when  the  concordat  was  passed — concessions  which  Pius 
VII.  characterised  as  mirijica — were  accepted  by  the 
Curia,  but  no  concessions  were  made  in  return.  The  one 
thing  which  the  state  required,  in  order  to  guarantee  the 


Puts  VIII. 


91 


equality  of  the  churches,  and  which  was  quite  rightly- 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  demands  for  an  honest  compact 
between  Church  and  State,  equal  matrimonial  rights, 
had  been  declared  by  the  Curia  and  its  henchman  Niebuhr 
to  be  inadmissible  for  discussion.  The  consequences 
soon  appeared.  Not  only  did  the  Evangelical  part  of  the 
community  find  itself  oppressed;  the  state  itself,  up  to 
its  highest  tribunal,  was  reduced  ad  absiirdmn. 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  later  conflict  we  must  here 
enter  into  some  local  details.  The  striking  helplessness 
of  the  state  against  clerical  tactics  appears  very  clearly  in 
the  events  previous  to  the  negotiations  with  Pius  VIII. 
Cases  had  multiplied  from  year  to  year  where  Roman 
Catholic  clergymen,  before  the  marriage  between  two 
parties  of  different  faith,  exacted  the  promise  that  all 
prospective  issue  without  regard  to  sex  should  be  trained 
in  the  Roman  Catholic  faith,  and  professed  themselves 
unable  to  perform  the  marriage  without  this  promise.  In 
vain  had  an  order  of  the  cabinet  of  1825  insisted  that  the 
demand  of  such  a  promise  could  not  be  permitted  either 
to  the  Evangelical  or  the  Catholic  clergy.  In  the  two 
following  years  violations  of  this  principle  of  equality 
only  increased  in  number. 

The  following  case,  which  can  be  substantiated  by  the 
official  papers  of  the  Prussian  ministry  of  public  worship, 
is  one  of  the  most  singular.  It  happened  in  the  little 
town  of  Bocholt  in  the  diocese  of  Miinster.  The  Roman 
clergyman  in  this  place  had  refused  to  marry  a  Protestant 
dyer  and  a  Catholic  woman  without  the  aforesaid  promise. 
The  law  in  Prussia  orders  that  where  the  parents  have 
not  otherwise  decided,  the  children  should  follow  the 
faith  of  the  father.  The  man  sought  to  obtain  from  the 
magistrates  the  relief  which  according  to  law  they  were 
bound  to  give.  Upon  their  advice,  he  went  to  the  bishop 
with  a  petition  for  relief.  The  bishop  refused.  There 
followed  a  complaint,  which  through  the  several  lower 


92  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

tribunals  was  taken  before  the  president  of  the  province 
of  the  Rhine,  He,  unable  to  give  relief,  made  a  personal 
report  to  the  king.  A  communication  from  the  cabinet 
was  issued  to  the  president,  destined  for  the  eyes  of  the 
bishop.  The  bishop  took  refuge  behind  the  clergyman, 
and  the  latter  refused  to  yield.  There  followed  renewed 
correspondence  between  the  president  and  the  bishop, 
again  without  result.  Finally,  the  man  was  advised  by 
the  state  authorities  to  have  his  marriage  performed  by 
the  Protestant  clergyman.  He  did  so.  Then  the  Catho- 
lic priest  refused  the  woman  absolution.  The  husband's 
domestic  tribulations  now  began,  and  in  a  few  months  he 
declared  that  if  he  got  no  relief  by  the  end  of  the  year 
he  would  give  the  promise  and  have  the  ceremony  re- 
peated according  to  the  Catholic  form.  The  priest  was 
then  called  upon  to  state  his  reasons  for  refusing  absolu- 
tion. He  took  refuge  behind  the  sanctity  of  the  confes- 
sional. In  the  end,  the  president  could  only  demand 
that  "  the  priest  should  be  called  upon  to  declare  under 
oath  that  the  Catholic  wife  was  not  excluded  from  the 
Communion  in  consequence  of  the  husband's  refusal  to 
give  the  promise,  but  for  other  causes  connected  with  the 
state  of  the  woman's  soul,  which  he  as  confessor  was  not 
at  liberty  to  divulge." 

It  was  the  natural  consequence  of  the  politics  of  the 
Restoration  and  of  the  concordats  that  the  state  was 
absolutely  unable  to  protect  the  equality  of  the  different 
churches.  Bunsen  had  succeeded  Niebuhr  as  Prussian 
ambassador  in  Rome.  The  latter's  view  still  prevailed, 
according  to  which  the  bishops  were  to  be  "  kept  in 
order  by  the  pope."  The  question  of  mixed  marriages 
was  the  critical  one.  Negotiations  were  carried  on  for 
a  year  with  Leo  XII.  He  had  given  a  verbal  promise 
and  an  understanding  seemed  almost  reached,  v/hen  Leo 
died. 


Phis  VII I.  93 

Negotiations  were  resumed  with  Pius  VIII.  A  propo- 
sition was  made  by  a  number  of  cardinals  to  disallow 
all  mixed  marriages  without  a  papal  dispensation :  the 
bishops  were  to  insist  upon  the  conversion  of  the  non- 
Catholic  party  before  marriage ;  and  the  draft  of  an  en- 
cyclical in  this  sense  was  laid  before  the  pope.  This 
proposition  was  not  carried  into  effect,  but  the  pope  took 
the  opportunity  of  impressing  upon  the  Prussian  bishops 
that  "  the  most  certain  dogma  of  our  religion  is  that, 
outside  of  the  true  Catholic  faith,  no  one  can  be  saved." 

After  long  waiting  for  a  decision  of  the  vexed  question, 
the  king  of  Prussia  finally  lost  patience  and  declared  that 
if  the  papal  court  did  not  within  six  months  adopt  meas- 
ures of  relief,  the  matter  would  be  settled  by  the  au- 
thorities of  the  state.  Shortly  before  the  end  of  this 
time-limit  there  appeared  the  brief  of  Pius  VIII.  of  March 
25,  1830. 

But  what  a  masterpiece  of  Jesuitical  tactics  this  brief 
was,  with  its  purposely  ambiguous  expressions,  capable 
of  the  most  diverse  interpretations!  Under  Archbishop 
Spiegel  of  Cologne  it  was  interpreted  as  allowing  the 
claims  of  the  state;  under  his  successor  it  was  made  to 
mean  the  opposite.  In  later  times  the  clerical  press  de- 
clared that  the  brief  never  permitted  a  priest  to  celebrate 
a  mixed  marriage. 

The  ambiguous  contents  of  the  brief  only  increased 
the  difficulties  of  the  situation.  King  Frederick  William 
III.,  not  satisfied  with  its  vagueness,  long  urged  a  change 
of  the  brief.  But  its  author.  Cardinal  Capellari,  himself 
succeeded  to  the  papal  throne  as  Gregory  XVI.  As 
pope  he  insisted  upon  the  literal  reading  of  the  brief,  and 
so  he  succeeded  in  bringing  to  an  open  rupture  the  con- 
flict which  had  been  long  preparing  and  in  inflicting  the 
first  decided  defeat  upon  the  hated  modern  state  which 
claimed  equal  rights  for  all  the  churches. 

We  have  to  record  also  a  measure  taken  in  the  short 


94  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centttry 

reign  of  Pius  VIIL,  whose  effect  was  to  undermine  the 
loyal  and  peace-loving  spirit  of  the  Catholics  of  South 
Germany.  His  predecessor  had  paralysed  the  influence 
of  Wessenberg  by  the  dissolution  of  the  see  of  Constance. 
Still  the  South  German  governments  preserved  something 
of  Wessenberg's  spirit.  They  agreed  (January  30,  1830) 
that  only  a  German,  who  had  a  record  of  particular  ex- 
cellence in  the  cure  of  souls  and  in  the  office  of  teaching, 
should  be  made  bishop,  and  that  any  bishop  thus  elected 
was  bound  before  consecration  to  render  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  head  of  the  state.  The  papal  brief  of 
Pius  VIII.  of  June  30,  1830,  condemned  these  "  erron- 
eous doctrines,"  and  called  upon  the  bishops  to  instruct 
the  faithful  concerning  the  objectionable  character  of 
these  principles  of  the  government. 

On  his  death-bed  Pius  VIII.  lamented  that  it  had  not 
been  possible  for  him  to  canonise  Alfonso  da  Liguori. 
But  he  did  accomplish  the  erection  of  an  opposition 
patriarchate  to  the  orthodox  patriarchate  of  Constan- 
tinople. 


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_    ,                         ,     —                                     _                         . 1 

CHAPTER  VII 

THE   REIGN   OF   GREGORY   XVI.    (1831-1846) 

IF  we  measure  the  advance  of  the  modern  Papacy  along 
the  line  of  the  three  tendencies  named  at  the  close  of 
the  first  chapter,  the  reign  of  Gregory  XVI.  records  the 
most  rapid  progress.  No  other  pope  has  taken  his  stand 
in  the  same  spirit  of  enmity  against  the  demands  and  the 
wants  of  our  modern  world ;  none  has  by  his  consistent 
energy  achieved  so  great  triumphs  in  the  struggle  against 
the  inconsequence  and  the  incapacity  of  the  temporal 
powers.  At  the  same  time,  the  process  of  corruption 
and  decay  within  the  soil  in  which  the  Papacy  itself  is 
rooted  now  reached  its  climax.  In  our  review  of  these 
events  we  begin  where  the  reign  of  Gregory  itself  begins, 
with  the  revolution  against  the  papal  authority  which 
broke  out  openly  in  the  states  of  the  Church. 

Hardly  anywhere  was  the  French  July  revolution 
greeted  with  so  much  joy  as  in  the  papal  states,  and 
almost  on  the  same  day,  the  2d  of  February,  1831,  on 
which  Gregory  was  chosen  pope,  the  long-smouldering 
dissatisfaction  broke  out  in  the  insurrection  of  Bologna. 
The  movement  spread  quickly  through  the  other  pro- 
vinces and  cities ;  and  not  only  did  native  Carbonari  take 
part  in  it,  but  some  came  from  foreign  countries,  as  the 
two  sons  of  Queen  Hortense,  of  whom  the  older  perished 
in  the  struggle;  the  younger  (afterwards  the  Emperor 
Napoleon  III.)  was  saved  in  a  most  romantic  manner. 

95 


96  The  Papacy  {71  the  igth  Cenhiry 

Even  the  holy  father  in  Rome  was  for  a  time  in  such 
peril  that  preparations  were  made  in  Civita  Vecchia  for 
his  embarkation ;  but  an  open  revolt  in  the  capital  was 
finally  prevented. 

The  occurrences  at  Bologna  were  highly  significant. 
Representatives  from  all  those  parts  of  the  states  of  the 
Church  which  had  thrown  off  the  temporal  rule  of  the 
pope  came  together,  February  26,  183 1,  for  the  purpose 
of  forming  a  legislative  assembly.  This  assembly  at 
once  adopted  unanimously  a  resolution  that  the  rule  of 
the  Curia  in  the  districts  represented  by  the  congress  had 
ceased.  A  union  for  a  common  government  was  effected, 
and  a  committee  formed  the  draft  of  a  new  constitution. 
This  triumph  was  of  short  duration  ;  Austrian  troops  soon 
moved  in  and  put  down  the  insurrection. 

But  the  ministers  of  the  great  Powers  in  Rome  united, 
as  they  had  done  in  the  year  1820  (just  as  was  afterwards 
done  with  Turkey),  to  urge  upon  the  holy  father  a  reform 
of  the  abuses  which,  to  the  everlasting  disgrace  of  his 
administration,  had  now  become  matters  of  common 
notoriety.  The  memorandum  of  May  31,  1831,  which 
emphasised  the  necessity  of  radical  reforms,  was  com- 
posed by  Bunsen  at  the  request  of  the  other  ministers.* 
It  showed  the  sympathy  for  the  legitimate  rule  of  the 
popes  which  Bunsen  had  inherited  from  Niebuhr.  This 
sympathy,  however,  did  not  at  a  later  time  prevent  the 
party  inimical  to  reform,  interested  in  the  continuance  of 
the  abuses,  from  pursuing  the  author  with  its  particular 
hatred. 

In  reply  to  this  memorandum,  there  appeared  soon 
after  (July  5,  183 1)  a  declaration  of  the  papal  secretary 
of  state,  Bernetti,  which  announced  a  transformation  of 
the  whole  system  of  administration  in  the  papal  states. 
Bernetti  followed  in  the  steps  of  Consalvi  in  making 
liberal  concessions  with  reference  to  the  administration 

'  Bunsen  haJ  succeeded  Niebuhr  as  Prussian  minister  at  Rome  in  1827. 


The  Reign  of  Gregory  XVI.  97 

of  justice  and  finance  and  the  participation  of  the  laity 
in  the  government.  On  the  other  hand,  the  two  most 
essential  reform  proposals  —  the  right  of  voting  for  the 
municipal  and  provincial  councils  and  the  appointment  of 
a  council  of  state  from  the  laity  —  were  ignored  ;  more- 
over, the  promised  reforms  in  the  administration  and  in 
the  finances  were,  with  few  exceptions,  never  carried  out. 
This  papal  declaration,  however,  appeared  so  satisfactory 
to  the  diplomats  that  immediately  afterwards  the  foreign 
troops  evacuated  the  territory  of  the  pope. 

But  the  inhabitants  of  the  ecclesiastical  provinces  were 
not  so  easily  satisfied.  The  city  of  Bologna  made  a 
solemn  protest  and  sent  a  memorial  to  the  ministers  of 
the  Pentarchy  of  great  Powers.'  This  memorial  explained 
the  shortcomings  of  the  administration,  and  pointed  out 
that  even  an  administration  undertaken  with  honest  in- 
tentions would  afford  no  sufificient  remedy,  so  long  as  the 
cause  of  all  the  evil  was  not  removed  and  the  temporal 
and  spiritual  government  entirely  divorced.  This  desire, 
everywhere  freely  expressed,  was  not  fulfilled.  The  dis- 
satisfaction continued,  and  the  Austrians  had  no  sooner 
departed  when,  in  January,  1832,  new  disorders  broke 
out  in  the  Marches. 

The  papal  troops,  gathered  from  the  dregs  of  the 
population  like  the  notorious  soldiers  of  the  keys  of 
former  times,  were  incapable  of  restoring  order.  At  the 
same  time  they  were  guilty  of  such  outrageous  acts  of 
violence  that  the  irritation  rapidly  increased,  and  the 
tottering  papal  chair  was  obliged  once  more  to  call  Aus- 
trian bayonets  to  its  aid.  Their  second  entry  into  Bo- 
logna, however,  excited  the  jealousy  of  France,  and 
suddenly  a  French  fleet  appeared  at  Ancona  (February, 
1832). 

In  the  papal  states  and  in  all  Italy  this  occupation  of 

'  Austria,  France,  Great  Britain,  Prussia,  and  Russia :  the  five  chief  ne- 
gotiators at  the  Congress  of  Vienna. 


98  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

Ancona  excited  great  hopes  ;  for  the  government  of 
Louis  Philippe  still  preserved  an  appearance  of  liberality. 
The  citizens  of  Ancona  were  so  exuberant  in  their  joy  that 
the  pope  excommunicated  them.  But  the  French  expe- 
dition had  quite  other  objects  than  those  which  the  Italian 
patriots  hoped  for.  Instead  of  helping  the  Italians  they 
restored  the  papal  administration,  and  after  this  there  was 
no  more  mention  of  the  improvements  announced  in  the 
preceding  year.  As  long  as  Ancona  and  Bologna  were 
occupied,  the  peace  of  the  state  was  not  disturbed.  But 
how  little  had  been  gained  in  behalf  of  a  real  peace,  how 
the  fire  continued  to  smoulder  under  the  ashes,  how  the 
influence  of  the  secret  societies  was  not  in  the  least 
broken,  became  evident  when  the  occupation  ceased  in 
1838;  a  few  years  later,  new  risings,  murders,  and  dis- 
orders of  all  kinds  showed  that  public  order  had  not 
been  secured. 

In  1843  ^rid  1844  there  was  bloody  guerilla  warfare 
when  an  attempt  was  made  to  put  down  the  disturbances. 
In  1845  3.n  insurrection  of  greater  magnitude  broke  out 
in  Rimini.  All  these  attempts  were  suppressed  by  the 
Swiss  regiments  and  the  rough  bands  of  papal  volunteers, 
and  were  punished  with  imprisonment,  exile,  and  execu- 
tions. But — as  Dollinger  affirmed  in  1861 — the  govern- 
ment seemed  to  have  no  conception  of  "  the  intense 
^  bitterness  produced  by  the  consciousness  that  heavy 
tribute  was  exacted  for  the  payment  of  foreign  mercen- 
aries, which  were  used  to  hold  the  people  in  subjection 
and  to  enable  the  power  of  the  state  to  refuse  all  popular 
demands." 

Bernetti  had  been  succeeded  in  1836  by  Lambruschini 
as  secretary  of  state  (the  same  who  as  papal  nuncio  in 
Paris  had  persuaded  Charles  X.  to  publish  the  famous 
July  ordinances  of  1830),  and  popular  dissatisfaction, 
which  had  been  steadily  increasing,  assumed  much  larger 
dimensions  under  the  latter.     Nothing  now  stood  in  the 


J 


The  Reign  of  Gregory  XVI.  99 

way  of  Gregory's  desire  to  restore  everything  to  the 
mediaeval  standard.  But  to  what  purpose  was  it  that,  in 
pursuance  of  this  policy,  the  larger  part  of  the  educated 
youth  of  Rome  languished  in  imprisonment  or  in  exile  ? 
To  what  purpose  was  it  that  continued  arbitrary  absolut- 
ism made  it  appear  as  if  there  were  no  further  cause  for 
fear  ?  To  what  purpose  was  it  that  railroads  and  learned 
conventions  were  prohibited,  access  to  the  Vatican 
library  made  more  difficult,  and  the  entire  system  of 
education  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits  ?  All  this 
did  not  make  the  social  condition  of  the  papal  state  any 
better. 

In  the  fifteen  years  of  Gregory's  reign  the  debt  of  the 
state  increased  from  twenty  to  forty  million  scudi ;  sev- 
eral items  of  income  had  to  be  mortgaged  for  a  number 
of  years,  and  yet  there  was  a  yearly  deficit  of  two  to 
three  millions.  More  than  once  the  necessities  of  the 
lower  classes  increased  to  actual  famine.  The  number 
of  political  prisoners  had  reached  six  thousand ;  and  the 
best  part  of  the  ambitious  youth  of  the  land  remained  in 
exile,  where  it  became  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  ideas 
of  Mazzini,  who  had  been  already  active  during  the 
revolution  of  1830. 

But  nothing  so  much  showed  how  completely  demoral- 
ising the  policy  of  Gregory  had  been  as  the  absolute 
necessity  which  was  felt  at  his  death  of  choosing  a  suc- 
cessor who  represented  different  ideas.  There  was  the 
feeling  that  it  was  simply  an  impossibility  to  continue 
the  government  along  the  same  lines;  this  decided  the 
choice  of  Pius  IX.,  and  this  prompted  the  latter  to  make 
his  celebrated  reforms. 

Gregory  assumed    towards   the  whole  civilised  world 
and  the  needs  of  our  modern  era  the  same  attitude  as  he      V 
did  in  the  government  of  the  Church-state.     He  main- 
tained the  old  papal  inflexibility,  he  insisted  on  all  the 


lOO  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

former  claims,  opposing  himself  to  all  modern  ideas.  As 
a  young  ecclesiastic  in  1799,  he  had  written  an  essay  to 
celebrate  the  "  triumph  of  the  Holy  See  "  brought  about 
by  the  reaction  against  the  Revolution.  As  pope  he 
exhibited  an  enmity  towards  modern  culture  such  as  one 
would  think  proper  in  a  Camaldulite  monk.  His  edict 
on  the  subject  of  studies,  of  September  12,  1831,  is  full 
of  the  most  timid  and  intolerant  restrictions.  But  his 
most  celebrated  document,  as  a  disavowal  of  all  that  is 
dear  and  precious  to  the  present  generation,  is  the  en- 
cyclical by  which  he  announced  to  the  episcopacy  his  ac- 
cession to  the  papal  throne ;  which,  however,  was  delayed 
by  the  revolution  in  the  states  of  the  Church,  and  did 
not  appear  till  after  the  suppression  of  the  disturbances, 
August  15,  1832.  In  this  encyclical  the  pope  declares 
implacable  war  upon  the  freedom  of  science  and  learning 
and  upon  all  really  liberal  views,  in  politics  as  well  as  in 
the  Church. 

The  cause  of  the  existing  wide-spread  unbelief  and  of  the  re- 
volt against  the  exclusively  valid  dogmas  of  the  Church  is  a  false 
science.  Academies  and  schools  are  shockingly  full  of  new- 
abominable  teachings,  by  which  the  Catholic  faith  is  not  only 
secretly  and  hiddenly  opposed,  but  by  which  it  is  openly 
attacked  in  merciless  warfare.  Through  instruction  and  ex- 
ample on  the  part  of  teachers  the  minds  of  the  youth  are  cor- 
rupted, the  vast  subversion  of  religion  and  the  shocking  decay 
of  morals  is  effected.  Therefore,  in  order  to  keep  such  novel- 
ties from  the  Church,  we  must  insist  upon  it  that  to  the  pope 
alone  belongs  the  right  of  judging  concerning  doctrine  and 
the  government  of  the  whole  Church;  the  bishops  must  there- 
fore cling  to  the  Roman  See,  and  the  priests  be  obedient  to 
the  bishops.  The  discipline  which  has  received  the  approval 
of  the  Church  may  not  be  disapproved  or  subjected  to  the 
power  of  the  state.  It  is  absurd  to  speak  of  a  regeneration  of 
the  Church,  it  is  abominable  to  attack  the  law  of  celibacy  and 
to  doubt  the  indissoluble  nature  of  the  matrimonial  bond.     But 


The  Reign  of  Gregory  XVI.  loi 

especially  are  we  to  fight  against  indifferentism,  or  the  illusion 
that  one  may  be  saved  in  any  faith;  from  this  is  derived  the 
insane  idea  that  every  man  has  a  claim  to  liberty  of  conscience. 
This  pernicious  error  is  promoted  by  the  immoderate  liberty 
of  opinion  which  prevails  to  the  destruction  of  the  Church 
and  the  State.  Thence  come  changes  of  opinions,  the  corrup- 
tion of  youth,  the  contempt  of  religion  and  of  its  laws  among 
the  people,  and  the  ruin  which  threatens  the  commonwealth. 
The  sources  of  all  these  revolutionary  movements,  which  sub- 
vert all  the  rights  of  magistrates  and  bring  slavery  to  the  people 
under  the  appearance  of  liberty,  are  above  all  the  criminal  and 
insane  tendencies  of  the  Waldenses,  Beghards,  Wiclifites,  and 
other  similar  sons  of  Belial.  And  for  no  other  cause  do  the 
present  innovators  exert  their  powers  but  in  order  to  boast 
with  Luther  that  they  are  free  from  all  laws ;  and  the  sooner 
to  attain  this  end  they  do  not  shrink  from  the  most  infamous 
crimes.  Herewith  is  connected  the  injurious  and  thoroughly 
detestable  freedom  of  the  press,  in  consequence  of  which  the 
most  abourd  and  insipid  doctrines  and  errors  spread  them- 
selves with  ease;  and  it  is  foolish  to  assert  that  the  effects  of 
the  bad  writings  are  destroyed  by  written  refutations.  There- 
fore the  Roman  Index  is  a  beneficent  institution,  and  it  is  a 
grievous  error  to  deny  to  the  Church  the  right  of  the  prohibi- 
tion of  books. 

In  the  end,  the  bishops  are  exhorted  to  constancy  in 
opposing  all  innovations,  and  princes  are  called  upon  to 
give  them  their  aid  because  the  peace  of  the  state  de- 
pends upon  the  welfare  of  the  Church.  "  The  favour 
of  the  blessed  Virgin  Mary,  who  alone  suppresses  all 
heresies,  will  bless  these  efforts." 

This  encyclical  has  since  become  the  type  of  all  follow- 
ing papal  allocutions,  especially  in  its  proficiency  in 
damning  and  scolding.  It  has  been  surpassed  as  the 
strongest  manifesto  of  the  Papacy  only  by  the  Syllabus- 
encyclical  of  1864.  All  of  Gregory's  official  acts  are, 
moreover,  in   agreement  with  it.      Only  a   few   of   the 


I02  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Cenhi^y 

principal  ones  need  here  be  named.  The  year  1839  saw  five 
new  canonisations,  accompanied  by  many  miracles,  among 
them  that  of  Liguori.  The  year  1841  witnessed  a  special 
threat  of  excommunication  against  all  who  failed  to  in- 
form concerning  those  whom  they  knew  to  have  broken 
the  rules  of  fasting;  this  measure  placed  a  premium  upon 
denunciations  of  servants  against  their  masters.  In  the 
year  1844  was  published  a  more  explicit  condemnation  of 
the  Bible  societies,  with  the  command  to  deliver  copies 
of  the  forbidden  book  to  the  bishops.  At  the  same  time 
the  old  rules  for  the  treatment  of  heretics  were  made 
more  stringent;  Catholic  theologians  pursuing  independ- 
ent researches  were  condemned,  and  the  opposition  to 
the  governments  which  sought  to  preserve  the  rights  of 
states  was  continued. 

But  all  these  actions  of  the  pope  were  no  longer  isolated 
phenomena,  manifestations  of  personal  antagonism  to  a 
hostile  world.  On  the  contrary,  they  indicate  a  general 
policy ;  for  we  now  meet  with  a  number  of  literary  pro- 
ductions which  give  evidence  of  the  existence  and  the 
spread  of  a  papal  "  school  "  in  Rome.  The  increased 
importance  of  this  "  school  "  is  distinctly  traceable  in 
the  Gregorian  era.  It  does  not,  of  course,  imply  the 
production  of  works  of  unbiassed  scientific  research,  but 
we  cannot  deny  to  this  new  school  a  high  degree  of  learn- 
ing. Names  such  as  Mezzofanti '  and  Angelo  Mai^  gave 
to  the  college  of  cardinals  the  reputation  of  a  learned 
congregation.  Perrone  issued  edition  upon  edition  of 
his  Prcslectiones  Theologicce,  combining  the  defence  of  the 
curialistic  system  with  the  most  disgusting  vilification  of 
the  Reformation.  Cantu  wrote  his  Universal  History  in 
the  spirit  of  an  "  orthodox  "  historian ;  it  was  translated 
into  all  the  principal  languages.      Rosmini  elaborated  a 

'  A  linguistic  genius.     He  understood  more  than  fifty  languages. 
*  Papal  librarian,  learned  in  classical  and  patristic  literature.     He  discov- 
ered the  palimpsests. 


The  Reign  of  Gregory  XVI.  103 

philosophical  system,  in  which  numerous  modern  ideas 
were  incorporated  in  the  defence  of  ancient  tradition,  and 
for  a  long  time  enjoyed  protection  in  high  quarters 
against  charges  brought  before  the  Congregation  of  the 
Index.  Among  learned  astronomers  the  name  of  the 
Jesuit  Father  Secchi  began  to  enjoy  a  growing  reputa- 
tion. The  colleges  of  the  restored  Company,  constantly 
increasing  in  number,  began  to  rival  the  old  order  in  the 
effort  to  train  eminent  specialists.  And  now  the  Doctores 
Romani,  in  the  service  of  the  Jesuits,  began  to  spread 
themselves  over  the  several  national  churches.  The 
consequence  was  the  rise  of  a  special  papalistic  literature. 

In  proportion  as  the  influence  of  the  Society  of  Jesus 
increased  in  its  opposition  to  the  conciliatory  tendencies 
which  had  been  dominant  since  the  days  of  Clement 
XIV.,  each  country  which  was  subjected  to  its  influence 
found    itself   more  and  more   confronted  with  its  own 

Jesuit  problem."  During  the  period  between  the 
revolutions  of  1830  and  1848  this  problem  comes  into 
view  in  several  places.  In  one  country  the  pious  fathers 
created  the  revolution,  in  another  they  provoked  it.  The 
acute  crisis  was  again  in  France ;  the  great  question  here 
was,  What  attitude  shall  the  new  government  take  to- 
wards the  Jesuit  problem  ? 

The  answer  to  this  question  shows  us  the  vacillating 
character  of  Louis  Philippe's  system.  So  long  as  popu- 
larity was  pursued  as  the  great  object,  we  find  great 
alacrity  in  instituting  proceedings  against  the  hated 
order.  The  year  1831  brought  the  abolition  of  the 
ordinance  of  1816,  which  had  permitted  the  preaching  of 
mission  sermons,  and  the  confirmation  of  the  ordinance  of 
1828  against  the  appointment  of  Jesuits  in  the  seminaries. 
But  so  soon  as  the  government  showed  a  desire  to  win 
over  the  clergy,  and  when  the  bishops  raised  the  cry  of 
"  freedom  of  instruction  "  (from  every  other  supervision 


I04  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Cenhiry 

but  their  own),  the  Jesuits  knew  at  once  how  to  make 
use  of  the  favourable  turn  to  further  their  own  interests. 
With  that  masterly  ability  which  the  order  has  always 
shown  of  choosing  the  right  man  for  every  position,  they 
now  used  the  pulpit  orator  Ravignan, —  who  delighted 
the  Parisian  haute  voice, — to  smooth  their  path.  After 
Ravignan  had  gained  suf^cient  popularity,  he  openly 
acknowledged  himself  a  Jesuit,  and  in  his  book,  De 
V existence  et  de  riiistitut  des  Jesuites,  he  asserted  that,  in 
spite  of  the  law,'  there  were  more  than  two  hundred 
Jesuits  in  Paris  (1844).  It  was  ofTficially  stated  that  the 
order  possessed  forty-three  houses  in  France,  among 
them  the  large  mother-house  in  the  Rue  des  Postes  in 
Paris,  and  that  the  number  of  the  professed  was  three 
times  as  large  as  had  been  given  out.  At  the  same  time 
it  was  revealed  through  testimony  given  in  a  suit  at  law 
that  they  had  resumed  their  mercantile  activity;  just  as 
had  happened  in  1764,  when  the  same  thing  was  shown 
in  the  course  of  a  legal  investigation  which  brought  about 
the  overthrow  of  the  old  order  in  France. 

The  government,  however,  did  nothing,  in  spite  of  the 
open  defiance  of  the  law.  But  the  mind  of  the  people 
made  itself  distinctly  known.  Michelet  and  Quinet  in 
their  lectures  in  the  College  of  France  brought  this  law- 
lessness to  the  light.  Cousin  put  the  question  of  its 
toleration  in  the  House  of  Peers,  Thiers  in  the  House  of 
Deputies.  At  the  same  time,  the  great  excitement  pro- 
duced by  Eugene  Sue's  J uif  Errant  proved  how  general 
was  the  belief  in  the  immoral  tendencies  of  the  order. 
Finally  the  government  laid  before  the  chambers  a  bill 
concerning  secondary  instruction,  in  which  it  was  ordered 
that  all  teachers  should  give  assurance  of  belonging  to 
no  prohibited  congregation. 

But  when  it  came  to  carrying  out  the  law  that  had 
been  passed  by  the  chambers,  the  ministry  was  obliged 

'  The  Jesuits  had  been  expelled  from  France  in  1 831. 


The  Reign  of  Gregory  XVI.  105 

to  negotiate  with  Rome.  The  end  of  the  matter  was 
that  the  government  declared  officially  that  their  pro- 
posals had  been  accepted  at  Rome.  The  general  of  the 
Jesuits,  for  appearance  sake,  temporarily  closed  a  few  of 
their  institutions;  in  reality,  however,  the  condition  of 
affairs  remained  as  it  had  been.  And  soon  after  this 
Guizot  openly  took  sides  with  the  Jesuits  when  he  inter- 
fered in  the  affairs  of  the  Swiss  Sonderbund. 

In  Switzerland  the  order  had  established  itself  in  Fri- 
bourg,  and  during  the  reign  of  Gregory  it  succeeded  in 
gaining  a  foothold  in  Schwyz  (1835).  In  1839  ^  motion 
was  made  in  Lucerne  to  call  the  Jesuits  to  the  public 
school  of  the  canton ;  this,  however,  was  not  carried  out 
until  the  liberal  government  had  been  overthrown  in 
1841.  The  clerical  attempt  at  insurrection  in  Aargau 
failed,  and  its  only  consequence  was  the  dissolution  of 
the  monasteries  in  which  the  insurrection  had  centred. 
On  the  other  hand,  in  Wallis  the  liberal  party  was  again 
defeated  (1840),  and  their  attempt  to  regain  the  ascend- 
ancy frustrated  at  the  expense  of  some  bloodshed. 

These  isolated  instances  were  only  the  precursors  of 
more  determined  action.  Soon  after,  those  cantons  that 
favoured  the  Jesuits,  including  the  three  original  cantons 
together  with  Lucerne,  Fribourg,  WalHs,  and  Zug,  com- 
bined to  form  the  rebellious  Sonderbund  (separate  feder- 
ation). In  opposition  to  this  revolutionary  measure, 
whose  instigators  the  Jesuits  Avere  known  to  be,  all  the 
rest  of  Switzerland  was  united  in  holding  that  the  peace 
of  the  country  called  for  the  banishment  of  the  order.  A 
motion  to  this  effect  was  made  in  the  Diet,  but  was  lost ; 
and  in  1844  Lucerne  showed  its  contempt  for  this  meas- 
ure by  officially  giving  to  the  Jesuits  the  administration 
of  the  system  of  education.  The  liberals  were  persecuted, 
and  the  Jesuits  installed  with  great  solemnity.  The 
motion  for  the  dissolution  of  the  Sonderbund  failed  of  a 


io6  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

majority  in  the  Diet  (April,  1846),  and  at  the  death  of 
Gregory,  two  months  later,  the  party  of  the  Jesuits  seemed 
dominant  in  Switzerland. 

In  proportion  as  the  order  of  Jesuits  succeeded  in  iden- 
tifying itself  with  the  Church  was  the  opposition  increased 
to  those  tendencies  in  Catholic  theology  that  were  not  in 
sympathy  with  the  order.  In  this  respect,  as  in  others, 
the  reign  of  Gregory  is  remarkable.  Up  to  this  time,  the 
war  against  national-Catholic  aspirations  had  been  waged 
indirectly  by  means  of  the  concordats.  Now  the  time 
seemed  to  have  come  for  making  a  direct  attack  upon 
the  much-dreaded  freedom  of  learning.  The  condem- 
nation of  the  teachings  of  Hermes,"  which  showed  both 
ignorance  on  the  part  of  his  opponents  and  lack  of 
scrupulousness  in  the  use  of  means  on  the  part  of  the 
Vatican,  forms  an  epoch  in  Catholic  theology ;  it  was  the 
first  act  of  the  great  drama  in  which  from  this  time  on 
all  conscientious  and  honest  investigators  became  the 
victims  of  Rome's  enmity.  The  disavowal  of  Lamen- 
nais  assumed  a  similar  significance  for  the  development 
of  French  Catholicism. 

Few  indeed  as  yet  foresaw  the  full  consequences  of  the 
system  pursued  at  Rome.  The  followers  of  Hermes  on 
the  one  side  and  the  friends  of  Lamennais  on  the  other 
submitted.  In  the  glowing  enthusiasm  for  the  Catholic 
Church-ideal  which  both  shared,  their  leaders  remained 
now,  as  before,  the  most  powerful  champions  of  the 
Church  in  its  struggle  with  the  state.  Montalembert 
and  Baltzer  outdid  one  another  in  the  same  champion- 
ship. But  it  is  a  striking  fact  that  both  were  obliged 
before  their  death  to  acknowledge  that  they  had  fought 
for  an  "  idol." 

'  An  eminent  Roman  Catholic  scholar,  professor  in  the  university  of 
Bonn,  the  leader  of  German  liberal  theologians.  His  work,  Introduction  to 
Christian  Catholic  Theology,  was  condemned  by  the  pope. 


The  Rcigii  of  Gregory  XVI.  107 

The  movement  which  philosophy  and  science  had  in- 
augurated throughout  the  intellectual  world  received  the 
consideration  of  Gregory  only  so  far  as  he  was  enabled 
to  hurl  his  anathema  against  it.  It  was  especially  the 
university  according  to  the  German  ideal,  which  from 
this  time  on  became  the  object  of  particular  hatred  in 
Rome.  The  representatives  of  these  universities  saw  as 
yet  no  danger  in  Rome's  anathemas,  while  the  masses, 
under  the  heel  of  the  hierarchy,  rendered  willing  obedi- 
ence to  the  papal  mandate. 

Gregory's  disputes  with  the  temporal  powers  show 
very  clearly  how  successful  had  been  the  disciplining  of 
the  masses  whom  the  politicians  of  the  .concordats  had 
delivered  into  the  hands  of  the  Papacy.  For  in  this  field 
his  stubborn,  consistent  policy  achieved  its  greatest 
triumphs.  Even  those  changes  which  brought  large 
momentary  losses  in  the  end  led  to  the  triumph  of  the 
papal  policy.  Thus  it  was  with  the  wars  of  the  Carlist 
revolution  in  Spain.'  The  pope  gave  indirect  aid  to  the 
pretender.  The  party  of  the  queen-mother  Christina 
more  than  once  resorted  to  measures  of  retaliation,  such 
as  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries,  a  measure  which 
greatly  affected  the  material  possessions  of  the  Church  in 
Spain.  The  Curia,  on  the  other  hand,  did  not  hesitate 
to  use  extreme  measures.  The  allocution  of  February  i, 
1836,  refused  recognition  to  the  queen,  Isabella;  the 
allocution  of  March  i,  1841,  even  ordered  general  public 
prayers  for  the  country  of  Loyola.  And  yet,  in  spite  of 
this  opposition,  no  sooner  had  Isabella  become  indepen- 
dent sovereign  than  concession  upon  concession  was 
made  to  the  Vatican. 

1  Upon  the  death  of  Ferdinand  VII.  in  1833,  his  brother,  Don  Carlos, 
refused  to  acknowledge  the  female  succession  and  claimed  the  throne. 
Christina,  the  widow  of  Ferdinand,  assumed  the  title  of  governing  queen 
until  her  infant  daughter,  Isabella  II.,  should  attain  her  majority.  This  is 
the  origin  of  the  two  parties,  the  Carlists  and  the  Christinas. 


io8  The  Papacy  271  the  igth  Ce^itury 

But  the  victory  over  deeply  fallen  Spain  was  not  to  be 
compared  in  moral  significance  to  the  triumph  over  the 
modern  state  of  Prussia.  In  pursuance  of  what  has  been 
said  in  the  preceding  chapter  concerning  the  measures  of 
Pius  VIII.,  we  may  here  describe  briefly  the  preparations 
which  were  made  by  the  Curia  for  its  battle  in  Germany, 
the  great  Church  war  of  Cologne.' 

Pius  VIII.  had,  on  the  25th  of  March,  1830,  issued  a 
brief  on  the  subject  of  mixed  marriages."  The  obscure 
and  ambiguous  expressions  of  this  brief  had  been  found 
unsatisfactory  by  the  Prussian  government.  After  a 
prolonged  correspondence,  an  order  of  the  cabinet  of  the 
27th  of  February,  1831,  decided  upon  the  return  of  the 
brief  with  the  express  declaration  that  the  Prussian 
government  entertained  no  desire  that  the  pope  should 
sanction  anything  that  was  opposed  to  the  general  prin- 
ciples of  the  Catholic  Church,  but  that  it  was  only  a 
question  of  expunging  such  expressions,  as  would  neces- 
sarily lead  to  dispute.  The  demand  which  the  Church 
made  of  the  exclusive  right  to  the  education  of  the  child- 
ren of  mixed  marriages  carried  dissension  into  countless 
families.  To  prevent  this,  to  preserve  equal  rights  for 
all :  this  was  to  the  state  an  obligation  it  could  not  shirk. 

The  Prussian  government,  although  in  returning  the 
brief  it  was  conscious  of  performing  its  duty  toward  its 
own  subjects,  showed  little  knowledge  of  the  state  of 
affairs  in  Rome  and  their  slippery  ways.  The  new  pope 
had  been,  in  his  former  position,  the  chief  author  of  the 
brief,  and  understood  better  than  anyone  the  purpose 
of  the  ambiguous  expressions.  While  the  French  minis- 
ter had  been  instructed  in  the  most  decided  terms  that 

'The  "Church  war  of  Cologne,"  with  which  this  and  the  following 
paragraphs  deal,  turned  upon  a  difference  on  the  subject  of  mixed  marriages 
between  the  ministers  of  the  state  and  the  Roman  Catholic  authorities  of  the 
diocese  of  Cologne,  and  ended  in  a  compromise  in  1840. 

2  Page  93. 


The  Reign  of  Gregory  XVI.  109 

mixed  marriages  would  not  be  tolerated,  and  a  brief  to 
the  Bavarian  bishops  of  May  27,  1832,  had  been  couched 
in  unmistakable  language,  Prussia,  with  whom  the  Vati- 
can could  not  deal  in  the  same  autocratic  manner,  was 
treated  to  ambiguous  expressions,  and  only  those  who 
read  between  the  lines  of  the  brief  could  understand  the 
real  wishes  of  the  pope. 

At  the  same  time  we  observe  that  the  Vatican,  in  its 
intercourse  with  the  states,  began  more  and  more  to  look 
for  help  to  the  revolutionary  spirit  which  was  active  in 
undermining  the  authority  of  governments.  An  official 
report  of  the  Prussian  minister  during  these  negotiations 
contains  the  following  account  in  reference  to  this  subject : 

It  is  undeniable  that  the  revolution  in  Belgium  and  the 
prevalent  opinion,  which  is  steadily  gaining  adherents  among 
the  most  opposite  parties,  concerning  the  freedom  of  the 
Church  from  the  state,  has  given  to  the  Roman  court  a  less 
compliant  disposition  towards  the  temporal  power  and  espe- 
cially towards  Protestant  governments. 

The  longer  the  determination  of  the  question  of  mixed 
marriages  was  postponed,  the  more  did  the  difficulties 
of  the  situation  increase,  aggravated  as  they  were  by  the 
general  condition  of  ecclesiastical  affairs.  As  we  look 
back  upon  the  activity  of  Archbishop  Spiegel  of  Cologne, 
we  see  how  almost  incredibly  difficult  was  the  situation 
of  this  pious  and  patriotic  prince  of  the  Church.  At 
every  step  he  was  hindered  in  his  noble  endeavours  by 
the  ill-will  of  Councillor  Schmedding  of  the  Prussian 
ministry.  This  man,  the  superior  of  the  archbishop  by 
virtue  of  his  office  in  the  state,  was  a  useful  tool  in  the 
hands  of  the  papal  policy,  which  was  systematically  bent 
upon  undermining  the  religious  peace. 

The  archbishop  of  Cologne,  in  answer  to  a  question  of 
the  ministry,  handed  in  an  opinion  which,  with  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  policy  of  the  Curia,  proved  how  upon 


no  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

the  basis  of  former  determinations  of  the  canon  law  the 
papal  brief  might  be  reconciled  with  the  just  demands  of 
the  state.  Therewith  was  presented  the  means  for  a 
satisfactory  solution  of  the  question.  But  Schmedding's 
report  of  the  negotiations  ignored  the  archbishop's  pro- 
posals. 

Under  these  circumstances  Bunsen  was  appealed  to  for 
aid,  and  he  was  recalled  from  Rome.  He  proposed  a 
direct  negotiation  with  the  archbishop.  Count  Spiegel 
came  for  this  purpose  to  Berlin,  and  the  result  was  the 
convention  of  June  9,  1834.  Loyally  carried  out,  it 
would  have  led  to  mutual  peace  among  the  churches  and 
to  the  strengthening  of  the  state;  but  thereby  it  would 
have  achieved  the  opposite  of  that  which  the  Curia  pur- 
posed. 

As  long  as  Archbishop  Spiegel  lived  (died  1835)  re- 
ligious peace  was  preserved.  But  no  sooner  had  he  closed 
his  eyes  than  systematic  attempts  were  begun  to  inflame 
the  passions  of  the  Catholic  population.  The  first  meas- 
ure in  this  direction  was  the  papal  brief  against  Hermes 
(see  note  i,  page  106),  which  escaped  the  injunction  of  the 
royal  placet  by  being  smuggled  into  the  Rhineland  from 
Belgium.  The  government  itself  came  to  the  aid  of  the 
Curia  by  the  choice  of  Baron  von  Droste  as  the  successor 
of  Count  Spiegel  in  Cologne.  In  the  new  archbishop  the 
Vatican  gained  a  useful  tool  for  furthering  its  own  policy, 
and  the  note  of  the  secretary  of  state,  Lambruschini,  of 
March  15,  1836,  at  once  formally  opened  the  war. 

This  note,  together  with  the  short-sighted  policy  of 
Niebuhr  and  the  brief  of  Pius  VHI.,  is  the  source  to 
which  is  to  be  traced  the  conflict  which  soon  came  to  a 
violent  outbreak.  At  the  time  that  this  note  was  issued 
the  Curia  announced  the  intention  of  sending  a  nuncio 
to  Berlin.  At  the  express  command  of  the  king  this 
offer  was  rejected  as  "  an  innovation  in  every  way  objec- 
tionable, under  whatever  form  it  might  be  made,"  and 


The  Reign  of  Gregory  XVI,  1 1 1 

this  refusal  was  meant  "  not  only  for  the  present  case, 
but  generally  once  for  all,  without  any  ambiguity  and 
definitely,  with  such  degree  of  decision  that  any  future 
repetition  of  this  attempt  should  thereby  be  obviated." 
When  the  Curia  made  the  same  attempt  the  following 
year  in  St.  Petersburg,  the  king  of  Prussia  at  once  took 
measures  looking  to  an  agreement  of  both  governments 
in  their  policy  touching  this  matter.  But  what  the 
nuncio  could  not  directly  accomplish  was  brought  about 
indirectly  by  Archbishop  Droste.  And  thus,  in  the 
policy  pursued  by  the  Vatican,  we  recognise  the  immedi- 
ate cause  which  brought  about  the  Church  war  of  Cologne, 
in  which  the  triumphs  achieved  by  Gregory  XVI.  were  as 
great  as  the  wounds  inflicted  upon  the  religious  peace  of 
Germany. 

The  accession  of  Frederick  William  IV.  (1840)  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  embassy  of  Count  BrCihl  to  Rome,  and  the 
nomination  of  Schmedding  to  the  newly  established 
"  Catholic  "  department  of  the  ministry  of  public  wor- 
ship. The  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  German  Catho- 
lics to  this  appointment  was  so  efTectually  put  down  by 
means  of  the  bureaucracy  that  the  Curia  was  relieved  of 
the  necessity  of  taking  any  direct  steps  in  the  matter,  and 
was  able  to  ascribe  to  the  government  the  odium  of  the 
inquisitorial  measures. 

The  papal  histories  of  the  reign  of  Gregory  XVI.  make 
the  triumphs  of  the  Curia  in  its  disputes  with  Spain  and 
Prussia  secondary  to  the  moral  triumph  of  the  Papacy 
over  the  Russian  emperor.  When  Nicholas  I.  visited 
Rome  in  1845  he  had  the  courtesy  to  pay  a  visit  to  the 
pope.  From  this  "  audience  "  (to  use  the  clerical  lan- 
guage of  the  visits  of  reigning  sovereigns  to  the  pope- 
king)  he  is  said  to  have  returned  quite  pale  and  under 
great  emotion.  Gregory  himself  is  reported  by  the  same 
authority  to  have  said  afterwards  to  his  intimate  friends 


112  The  Papacy  i7i  the  igth  Century 

that  he  had  told  the  emperor  the  truth.  There  is  no 
trace  of  any  direct  consequences  of  this  conversation,  as 
far  as  we  are  concerned  with  the  future  actions  of  the 
emperor.  But  the  entire  later  development  has  proved 
that  the  "  papistical  "  policy  has  always  shown  itself 
superior  to  the  "  caesaro-papistical." 

On  all  sides  did  Gregory  XVI.  win  success  except  in 
the  ecclesiastical  state  itself.  Leo  was  little  loved,  but 
Gregory  XVI.  died  under  the  glowing  hatred  of  the 
Roman  population.  In  spite  of  increasing  financial 
straits,  the  expenses  of  his  Swiss  guard  were  constantly 
increased.  One  of  his  last  decrees  had  freed  his  family 
from  the  inheritance  taxes.  He  ennobled  his  barber. 
At  the  baptism  of  the  latter's  son,  thirty-one  patriarchs, 
archbishops,  and  bishops  stood  sponsors. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


THE   FIRST    "LIBERAL        PERIOD    OF   THE   REIGN   OF 

PIUS  IX.  (1846-1850) 

THE  history  of  no  pope  is  so  full  of  change  and  so  rich 
in  events  as  that  of  Pius  IX.  We  find  in  his  pon- 
tificate a  curious  interweaving  of  all  the  separate  threads 
which  we  have  followed  in  the  history  of  the  modern 
Papacy ;  the  various  tendencies  which  began  with  the  Res- 
toration seem  to  have  approached  more  closely  their  goal. 
)  The  first  thing  which  strikes  the  student  of  history  is 
the  remarkable  series  of  reforms  with  which  Pius  began 
his  reign.  These  are,  however,  but  the  natural  reaction 
from  the  Gregorian  extreme,  and  their  effect  could  be 
none  other  than  to  show  the  impossibility  of  a  reconcilia- 
tion between  the  progress  of  the  age  and  the  Papacy., 
The  ffnal  overthrow  of  the  temporal  dominion  of  "the 
Papacy  was  founded  in  its  own  unnaturalness. 

If  politically  Pius  made  the  attempt  to  reconcile  him- 
self with  the  liberal  tendencies  of  his  time,  ecclesiastically 
he  never  had  any  such  intention.  Even  his  last  acts, 
which  threw  the  world  into  such  commotion,  had  their 
origin  much  earlier  than  in  the  days  of  his  exile  at  Gaeta 
(1848  to  1850).  ■  They  were  the  direct  consequences  of 
all  the  former  steps  of  the  restored  Papacy,  and  are  not 
explained  by  personal  embitterment  or  mystical  religios- 
ity. Only  in  crudeness  of  expression  did  the  last  pro- 
ductions of  Pius  IX.  surpass  everything  that  went  before. 

8 

113 


114  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Cejiiury 

But  whatever  were  Pius'  principles,  political  and  eccle- 
siastical, his  pontificate  shows  a  marvellous  series  of 
triumphs  for  the  papal  system,  triumphs  which  were 
achieved  in  spite  of  the  antagonism  of  this  system  to 
the  spirit  of  the  times.  No  former  year  had  been  so 
favourable  in  its  results  to  the  policy  of  the  Roman 
Church  as  the  year  of  revolution,  1848,  with  the  era  of 
reaction  which  immediately  followed.  We  shall  have  to 
note  in  almost  all  countries  a  considerable  intensification 
of  the  ultramontane  tendencies,  crowds  of  conversions, 
concordats  more  favourable  than  ever,  "  Catholic  "  fac- 
tions holding  closely  together,  and,  above  all,  a  closer 
connection  of  the  national  churches  with  Rome.  Espe- 
cially in  the  second  period  of  the  pontificate  of  Pius  IX., 
from  his  return  to  Rome  to  the  Italian  war,  did  fortune 
smile  upon  him.  But  even  his  later  years,  following  the 
Council  of  the  Vatican,  though  they  brought  apparent 
reverses,  only  prepared  the  way  for  the  triumphs  of  his 
successor. 

So  long  a  reign  as  that  of  Pius  IX.  would  have  been  of 
great  importance  apart  from  the  many  crises  which  fill  it. 
By  its  connection  with  the  general  history  of  the  times, 
this  reign  divides  itself  naturally  into  four  periods :  the 
first  (1846  to  1850)  shows  the  irreconcilability  of  the 
Papacy  with  modern  ideas;  the  second  (1850  to  1859) 
brings  before  us  the  triumphs  which  it  achieved  in  spite 
of  this  fact ;  the  third  (1859  to  1870)  shows,  in  connection 
with  the  Italian  and  the  Austrian-Prussian  war,  that  on 
both  sides  of  the  Alps  people  had  begun  to  grasp  the 
idea  that  the  conflicts  with  Rome  represent  a  decisive 
battle  for  some  of  those  things  which  humanity  holds 
most  dear,  while  at  the  same  time  the  Curia  was  sharpen- 
ing new  weapons  for  this  battle;  finally,  in  the  fourth 
period  (1870  to  1878)  we  have  before  us  the  great  war, 
whose  battle-field  is  the  world,  which  began  with  the 
Vatican  Council. 


The  First  "  Liberal  Period  of  Pius  IX.     1 1 5 

When,  to  the  great  joy  of  the  Romans,  Gregory  XVI. 
died,  on  the  ist  of  June,  1846,  the  choice  of  his  successor 
vacillated  for  a  short  time  between  Gregory's  secretary 
of  state,  the  like-minded  Lambruschini,  and  the  fifty- 
four  years'  old  Count  Mastai  Ferretti  from  Sinigaglia;  in 
two  days  the  conclave  elected  the  latter  (June  i6th).  A 
man  now  ascended  the  throne  of  St.  Peter  whose  per- 
sonal amiability  and  agreeable  appearance  could  not  but 
win  sympathy ;  the  Roman  people  in  particular  greeted 
the  choice  of  this  genial  and  popular  cardinal  with  extra- 
ordinary enthusiasm.  The  high  degree  of  his  theological 
ignorance,  coupled  with  a  still  higher  degree  of  vanity, 
was  known  to  but  a  few  of  the  initiated. 

Persuaded  of  the  necessity  of  discarding  the  system  of 
Gregory  and  of  not  disappointing  the  Romans  in  the  re- 
forms they  expected  of  him,  Pius  began  his  reign  with 
an  attack  upon  the  numerous  abuses,  and  with  the  re- 
trenchment of  avoidable  expenses.  A  month  later  ap- 
peared the  decree  of  amnesty,  which  restored  many 
political  prisoners  to  life  and  to  their  friends.  Like  an 
electrical  current  the  glad  tidings  of  this  act  ran  through 
the  hot-blooded  populace,  and  from  Rome  loud  jubilation 
spread  over  all  Italy. 

An  opposition  was  indeed  immediately  formed  against 
the  reform-loving  pope.  The  governments  began  to  ex- 
press doubts ;  the  so-called  setta  Gregoriana,  the  adherents 
of  Gregory  and  his  policy,  made  demonstrations.  But 
Pius  was  not  frightened  ;  his  further  actions  gave  evidence 
that  he  was  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  far-reaching 
reforms,  and  that  he  was  determined  that  no  obstacle 
should  frustrate  his  purpose.  When  the  council  of  state 
protested,  he  formed  a__ngiy.  couriciPfrorrir  the,  younger 
prelates,  and  nomijiated  the  liberal  Cardinal  Gizzi  as 
secretary  of  state. 

There  followed  (April  to  July,  1847)  ^  "^w  Roman 
municipal   constitution    (whereby  there   was   formed  an 


1 1 6  The  Papacy  in  the  igtJi  Century 

assembly  of  a  hundred  members  with  a  senator  at  the  head 
and  eight  conservators);  a  council  of  state  (consisting  of 
the  deputies  of  the  provinces  as  a  diet  for  counsel  and 
debate),  and  the  institution  of  a  guardia  civica  (citizens' 
guard).  Measures  of  similar  tendency  were  the  permis- 
sion of  greater  freedom  to  the  press,  the  sanction  of  rail- 
roads, the  admission  of  the  laity  to  the  offices  of  state, 
the  taxation  of  monasteries,  personal  investigation  of 
monasteries  and  hospitals,  circulars  to  the  generals  of 
orders,  and  the  dismissal  of  the  Swiss  soldiers. 

"When  finally  Pius  protested  against  the  occupation  of 
Ferrara  by  the  Austrians,'  he  became  the  hero  of  all 
Italy  and  appeared  to  be  at  the  head  of  the  Italian 
national  movement.  At  the  anniversary  of  his  acces- 
sion Rome  was  brilliantly  illuminated  (June  i6,  1847); 
the  manifestations  of  joy  and  emotion  continued  un- 
til the  beginning  of  1848.  The  pope  was  celebrated 
as  the  prince  whose  chief  care  it  was  to  moderate  the 
expressions  of  joy  on  the  part  of  his  subjects. 

The  hopes  which  the  younger  Italy  placed  in  Pius  are 
shown  by  the  letter  of  Mazzini  of  September,  1847: 
**  There  are  two  kinds  of  men,  the  superstitious  and  the 
hypocrites;  but  humanity  cannot  live  without  faith  and 
religion.  The  pope  should  therefore  place  himself  at  the 
head  of  a  new  religion  of  humanity.  His  chief  duty 
however  is  to  bring  about  the  unity  of  Italy."  In  Pro- 
testant countries  the  glorification  of  the  liberal  pope  was 
hardly  less  than  in  Cathohc.  Princes  with  arbitrary 
tendencies  were  referred  to  his  example.  Public  opinion 
proclaimed  everywhere  the  praise  of  his  name. 

But  the  same  pope,  who  began  with  political  reforms, 
gave  even  then  distinct  evidence  that  in  every  other  re- 
spect he  was  the  genuine  representative  of  the  unchange- 

'  Austria  had  occupied  the  castle  of  Ferrara  with  her  troops,  claiming  the 
authority  of  an  article  in  the  decrees  of  the  Congress  of  Vienna. 


The  First  "  Liberal "  Period  of  Pius  IX.     117 

able  Papacy ;  this  he  did  by  his  encyclical  of  November 
9,  1846,  in  his  letter  to  the  archbishop  of  Cologne  of  July 
3,  1847,  '^i^^  i^  the  bull  concerning  the  oriental  question 
of  July  23,  1847.  Soon  followed  the  most  unequivocal 
document,  the  allocution  of  December  17,  1847  (contain- 
ing the  pope's  negative  to  the  demand  of  Mazzini).  Over 
the  existing  political  excitement,  these  ecclesiastical  acts 
were  at  the  time  little  regarded ;  in  the  eyes  of  the  histor- 
ian reviewing  the  past  great  significance  attaches  to  them. 
The  encyclical  at  his  accession  was  composed  in  the 
same  tenor  as  Gregory's  pastoral  letters.  It  is  full  of 
bitter  lamentations  over  the  times, 

in  which  the  most  violent  and  dreadful  war  is  inflamed 
against  the  interests  of  Catholicism  by  those  who,  united  in 
infamous  associations,  alienated  from  sound  doctrine,  and 
turning  the  ear  from  the  truth,  are  bent  upon  bringing  forth 
out  of  darkness  all  sorts  of  monstrous  opinions  and  spreading 
them  among  the  people.  This  is  done,  not  only  by  the  de- 
niers  and  blasphemers  of  God,  but  also  by  those  who  dare  to 
interpret  God's  word  by  their  own  judgment,  according  to 
their  own  reason,  while  God  Himself  has  established  a  living 
authority  which  teaches  the  true  meaning  of  his  heavenly 
revelations  and  composes  all  disputes  in  matters  of  faith  and 
of  morality  by  an  infallible  judgment. 

The  Bible  societies  are  again  condemned, 

which,  repeating  the  device  of  the  ancient  heretics,  contrary 
to  the  rules  of  the  Church,  translate  the  books  of  the  sacred 
Scriptures  into  every  vulgar  tongue,  accompany  them  with 
perverse  interpretations,  distribute  them  free  in  immense  num- 
bers and  at  great  expense  to  all  individuals  of  both  sexes, 
even  to  the  uneducated,  and  have  no  hesitation  in  teaching 
the  people  that  everyone  may  reject  tradition  and  the  authority 
of  the  Church  and  interpret  the  words  of  the  Lord  and  pervert 
their  meaning  according  to  his  private  judgment. 


1 1 8  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Ceritury 

Under  the  same  anathema  fall 

the  perverse  instruction  in  philosophical  studies,  the  abom- 
inable system  of  religious  indifferentism,  the  detestable  attacks 
upon  the  holy  state  of  priestly  celibacy,  which  are  favoured 
even  by  ecclesiastics,  who  allow  themselves  to  be  overcome  by 
flatteries  and  the  allurements  of  sensual  pleasure,  and  the 
doctrines  of  communism,  which  are  opposed  even  by  the  rights 
of  nature. 

Good  and  bad  are  damned  in  promiscuous  variety ;  al- 
ternating condemnations  and  lamentations  make  up  the 
accustomed  greeting  of  the  vicar  of  Christ. 

In  like  manner,  the  letter  to  the  archbishop  of  Cologne 
renewed  the  condemnation  of  the  teachings  of  Hermes ' 
which  Gregory  XVI.  had  pronounced,  with  the  same 
ignorance  of  the  German  system  that  the  first  condemna- 
tion had  shown.  The  bull  issued  at  the  same  time  for 
the  oriental  Church  was  meant  to  show  to  the  oriental 
Christians  that  as  schismatics  they  had  just  as  little 
rights  as  the  Protestant  heretics;  without  the  slightest 
consideration  of  the  Greek  patriarch  or  of  the  English- 
Prussian  bishop,  "  the  exercise  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
L,atin  patriarch  was  restored  "  in  Jerusalem. 

It  was  especially  the  allocution  of  December,  1847,  •'^ 
1/'  which  Pius  guarded  himself  against  all  conclusions  that 
might  be  drawn  from  his  political  in  reference  to  his 
ecclesiastical  position.  Solemnly  he  protests  against  the 
idea  "  that  it  should  ever  enter  into  his  mind  to  permit 
the  slightest  diminution  of  the  authority  of  the  Holy  See 
or  of  received  laws,  or  to  cherish  other  traditions  than 
those  of  the  Church."     He  expresses  grievous  sorrow 

that  so  many  of  the  enemies  of  the  Catholic  truth  should  have 
allowed  themselves  to  place  the  most  absurd  opinions  on  an 
equality  or  to  mingle  them  with  the  teachings  of  Christ,  and 

'  See  page  106,  note  i. 


TJie  First  "  Liber aV  Period  of  Piits  IX.      1 19 

to  spread  the  godless  system  of  religious  indifference  ;  that 
some  have  even  done  him  the  abominable  injury  of  pretending 
that  he  was  as  it  were  the  partaker  of  their  folly  ;  that  espe- 
cially from  some  of  his  ordinances  for  advancing  the  civil  wel- 
fare of  the  ecclesiastical  state,  which  surely  contained  nothing 
contrary  to  religion,  as  well  as  from  the  amnesty  granted  at 
the  beginning  of  his  pontificate,  they  concluded  that  he  was 
of  such  benevolent  spirit  towards  the  whole  human  race  as  to 
believe  that  one  could  be  saved  outside  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
Thereby  they  have  inflicted  upon  him  so  great  an  injury  that 
he  is  not  able  in  words  to  express  his  detestation  of  it. 

Politically,  Pius  would  be  liberal ;  ecclesiastically,  re- 
actionary. The  inner  contradiction  in  this  position  was 
made  evident  with  surprising  rapidity  in  the  develop- 
ments which  immediately  followed.  Soon  the  liberal 
party,  encouraged  by  himself,  went  beyond  him,  and  the 
old  Italian  national  ideas  proved  stronger  than  the  so- 
called  rock  of  Peter.  At  the  very  beginning  of  the  year 
1848,  one  after  another  of  the  Italian  states  became  the 
scene  of  insurrections.  In  Lombardy  there  was  the 
greatest  fermentation  against  the  foreign  dominion.  In 
Sardinia  Charles  Albert  made  preparations  to  take  the 
sword  of  Italy  into  his  hands.'  The  events  in  Naples* 
carried  the  Romans  away  in  enthusiastic  sympathy.  And 
into  this  powder-cask,  which  the  pope  himself  was  accused 
of  opening,  fell  the  spark  of  the  Paris  February  revolution 
of  1848. 

It  was  the  pope  himself  who  more  than  any  other  had 
started  the  movement  to  which  the  throne  of  the  French 
citizen-king  fell  a  sacrifice,  and  which  in  rapid  succession 

'  The  war  between  Sardinia  and  Austria  in  1848  and  1849.  The  Sar- 
dinians were  defeated  by  Radetzki  at  Custozza  and  Novara.  Charles  Albert 
abdicated  in  favour  of  his  son,  Victor  Emmanuel. 

^  Ferdinand  II.,  king  of  the  two  Sicilies  (including  Naples),  was  obliged, 
in  consequence  of  the  disturbances  in  his  kingdom,  to  grant  a  constitution 
and  appoint  a  liberal  ministry. 


1 20  The  Papacy  m  the  igth  Century 

led  to  risings  in  Vienna  and  Berlin.  He  had  at  first  re- 
joiced and  not  concealed  his  joy  that  the  son  of  Philipp 
Egalite  had  been  overthrown  and  that  the  state  of  the 
godless  Joseph  II.  was  shaken  to  its  foundations.  But 
it  lay  in  the  nature  of  the  revolution  itself  that,  once 
started,  it  should  turn  against  the  sovereignty  of  the  pope 
himself.     A  foretaste  of  this  had  been  given  in  the  year 

1847. 

When  Gregory  XVI.  died,  the  reactionary  party  of  the 
Sonderbund  in  Switzerland,  favoured  alike  by  Guizot, 
Metternich,  and  Frederick  William  IV.  of  Prussia,  seemed 
in  a  position  to  make  light  of  its  enemies.'  But  a  few 
months  later  there  had  taken  place  in  Berne  and  Geneva, 
in  Zurich  and  in  Waadt,  a  change  in  the  government,  by 
which  the  democratic  tendencies  of  1830  were  carried  a 
step  further.  This  change  also  secured  a  majority  in  the 
Diet  against  those  who  favoured  the  Jesuits.  In  July, 
1847,  the  dissolution  of  the  unconstitutional  Sonderbund 
was  pronounced ;  in  September  it  was  resolved  to  carry 
out  this  dissolution  by  force  of  arms. 

The  rebellion  was  disappointed  of  the  help  which  had 
been  promised,  and  a  rapid  campaign  of  a  few  weeks 
dissolved  the  Sonderbund.  The  victors,  the  noble  Gen- 
eral Dufour  at  their  head,  made  every  elTort  to  draw  the 
bonds  of  federation  closer  than  ever  with  those  whom 
they  had  conquered.  But  upon  one  point  they  insisted. 
The  perpetual  banishment  of  the  Jesuits  was  pronounced 
to  be  the  fundamental  law  of  the  federation.  While 
therefore  in  the  neighbouring  states  everything  was  in 
confusion,  Switzerland  adopted  the  new  constitution, 
which  became  a  source  of  strength  outwardly  and  in- 
wardly, and  which  acted  as  a  bar  to  the  desire  of  inter- 
vention in  the  following  era  of  reaction. 

This  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  from  Switzerland  is  not 
to  be  understood,  as  it  would  have  been  a  few  years  later, 
'  See  page  105. 


The  First  **  Liberal "  Period  of  Pius  IX.      121 

as  a  measure  of  hostility  to  the  Papacy  itself.  Pius  IX. 
was  then  considered  rather  as  an  opponent  than  as  a 
friend  of  the  order.  The  reports  of  his  nuncio,  Luquet, 
from  Switzerland  (published  in  Lucerne,  1861)  are  very 
compromising  to  the  pious  fathers.  But  the  further 
course  of  events  only  too  soon  made  the  order  of  Loyola 
and  the  Papacy  appear  as  synonymous  terms. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  most  significant  symptom  of 
those  days  is  found  in  the  unanimity  with  which  the 
popular  voice,  wherever  it  found  expression,  turned 
against  the  order.  In  February,  1848,  the  Jesuits  were 
driven  from  Sardinia  and  from  Lombardy.  Naples  and 
Sicily  followed  the  example  of  their  North  Italian 
brethren.  In  the  same  February  (before  the  revolution 
had  swept  over  Austria  and  Prussia)  the  Bavarian  Jesuit 
college  in  Altotting  was  closed.  And  before  long,  even 
in  the  ecclesiastical  states,  the  Society  was  dissolved  and 
its  goods  confiscated. 

Not  only  had  Pius  IX.  started  the  revolutionary  con- 
flagration in  Europe ;  he  was  soon  obliged  to  experience 
it  in  his  own  land.  When  every  day  brought  new  ac- 
counts to  Rome  of  the  progress  of  liberal  principles  in 
neighbouring  states,  the  impatience  of  the  Romans  over 
the  half-measures  of  the  Papacy  could  no  longer  be  re- 
strained. Pius,  until  then  adored  as  a  god,  was  now  im- 
petuously urged  to  further  concessions.  He  was  obliged 
to  yield.  On  the  14th  of  March,  1848,  appeared  the 
Roman  constitution,  and  at  the  same  time  a  reform  min- 
istry was  appointed  containing  only  two  clerical  members. 
Alongside  of  the  college  of  cardinals,  to  which  belonged 
the  functions  of  a  senate,  there  were  instituted  two 
chambers  to  which  was  given  the  right  to  grant  taxes  and 
to  approve  of  all  laws. 

In  spite  of  these  concessions,  the  news  of  the  revolu- 
tions in  Vienna  and  in  Milan  created  new  disturbances. 


1 2  2  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

The  Austrian  minister  was  insulted,  volunteers  from 
Rome  went  to  the  aid  of  the  Lombards,  and  the  ill  will 
of  the  people  vented  itself  particularly  against  the  Jesuits. 
Before  the  end  of  March  they  were  obliged  to  leave  Rome 
and  the  ecclesiastical  states. 

In  vain  was  the  appeal  for  moderation  which,  on  the 
31st  of  March,  1848,  Pius  addressed  to  the  Italian  people. 
In  vain  did  he  go  so  far  as  to  declare  that  he 

recognised  in  the  events  of  the  last  months  more  than  the 
work  of  man,  even  the  voice  of  God;  that  he,  as  one  to  whom 
was  given  the  voice  to  interpret  the  silent  eloquence  of  the 
works  of  God,  was  moved  to  rejoice  over  so  much  that  ap- 
peared religious  and  noble  in  the  storms  raging  around  them. 

More  was  demanded ;  people  wanted  the  ecclesiastical 
state  to  take  part  in  the  war  against  Austria.  The  min- 
istry of  Mamiani  and  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  gave  loud 
voice  to  this  demand.  The  commander  of  the  papal 
troops,  without  the  authority  of  the  pope,  crossed  the 
Po.     Tumult  followed  tumult  in  Rome. 

Once  more  the  pope  raised  his  voice  in  warning,  in  the 
allocution  of  April  29,  1848: 

As  the  successor  of  Peter,  who  embraces  in  love  all  peoples, 
every  war  is  to  him  an  abomination ;  but  he  is  iilled  with  hor- 
ror at  the  idea  that  they  wished  to  place  him  at  the  head  of  an 
Italian  republic.  He  had  not  been  able  to  calm  the  fiery  zeal 
of  those  of  his  subjects  who  wished  to  participate  in  the  events 
in  upper  Italy.  But  in  this  he  had  had  the  same  experience 
as  other  and  far  mightier  princes;  he  himself  had  sent  his 
troops  to  the  borders  of  the  Church-state  only  for  its  protec- 
tion. As  the  father  of  all  the  faithful  he  can  take  no  part  in 
political  factions  and  can  wish  for  nothing  but  the  peace  of 
the  whole  world,  especially  of  Italy. 

He  made  the  same  declaration  in  answer  to  every  new 
urging. 


The  FiJ'st  "■  Liberar''  Period  of  Pins  IX.     i  23 

The  enthusiasm  for  the  pope  cooled  with  astonishing 
rapidity,  and  soon  was  turned  into  coldness  and  hatred. 
One  event  followed  on  the  heels  of  another:  the  dismis- 
sal of  the  Mamiani  ministry,  the  failure  of  several  other 
attempted  ministerial  combinations,  the  nomination  of 
Count  Rossi  to  the  presidency  of  the  ministry  and  to  the 
ministry  of  the  interior,  his  attempts  to  re-establish  quiet 
and  order,  his  assassination  on  the  steps  of  the  chamber 
of  deputies  (November  14,  1848),  the  tumultuous  deputa- 
tions to  the  pope  (in  favour  of  a  democratic  ministry, 
recognition  of  Italian  nationality,  the  continuation  of  the 
war  against  Austria,  and  the  calling  of  a  constituent 
assembly). 

Then  came  the  approval  by  Pius,  under  coercion,  of 
all  demands  made  upon  him,  while  the  bullets  penetrated 
into  his  rooms ;  the  flight  of  most  of  the  cardinals  ;  finally 
the  celebrated  flight  of  the  pope  himself  to  Gaeta  in  the 
carriage  of  the  Bavarian  ambassador  (in  the  night  of  No- 
vember 24,  1848),  \  The  rupture  between  the  Papacy  and 
Italian  freedom  was  thereby  for  ever  decided,  j  Pius  him- 
self, as  a  neutral  and  well  disposed  historiati  says,  was 
"  evidently  less  of  a  prophet  than  of  a  reed  which  is 
shaken  to  and  fro  by  the  wind." 

From  Gaeta  the  pope  protested  before  all  the  world 
against  the  ministry  that  had  been  forced  upon  him,  and 
declared  all  the  measures  that  proceeded  from  it  to  be 
wanting  in  legal  sanction  and  invalid.  In  Rome  a  pro- 
visional junta  was  formed  and  the  ministry  Corsini- 
Camerata-Galetti  called  a  constituent  assembly. 

Again,  and  more  decidedly,  Pius  protested  on  the  ist 
of  January,  1849, 

against  this  call  of  a  so-called  national  assembly  as  a  detestable 
sacrilegious  crime  against  his  independence,  which  deserves 
the  punishment  pronounced  against  it  by  divine  and  human 
laws.     According  to  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent  the 


124  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

major  excommunication  is  to  be  passed  upon  all  who  in  any 
way  call  in  question  the  sovereignty  of  the  pope.  It  is  a 
matter  of  conscience  and  duty  for  him  to  preserve  and  defend 
the  sacred  pledge  of  the  patrimony  of  the  bride  of  Christ. 
Still  he  will  not  forget  that  he  is  the  vicar  of  Him  who  exer- 
cises not  only  justice  but  also  mercy.  He  therefore  prays  day 
and  night  for  the  conversion  and  salvation  of  those  who  have 
been  led  astray  and  hopes  fervently  that  they  will  soon  return 
into  the  fold  of  the  Church. 

The  Romans  felt  no  inclination  to  return  to  the  fold ; 
they  laughed  at  the  anathema.  The  only  effect  of  the 
pope's  manifesto  was  to  bring  to  full  expression  the  ill 
will  which  had  long  been  cherished  against  the  regime  of 
the  priests.  All  classes  of  people  agreed  in  the  energetic 
desire  to  rescue  the  temporal  sceptre  from  the  spiritual 
power;  in  the  union  of  both  they  recognised  the  ultimate 
source  of  all  corruption  and  of  the  general  decline.  The 
constituent  assembly  which  was  opened  on  February  5, 
1849,  01^  th^  9th  of  the  same  month  solemnly  decreed  the 
deposition  of  the  pope  as  temporal  prince,  and  proclaimed 
the  Roman  republic.  There  followed,  on  the  i8th  of 
February,  the  law  which  confiscated  all  property  of  the 
dead  hand  as  belonging  to  the  state,  with  the  expressly 
declared  intention  that  the  eradication  of  every  remnant 
of  the  clerical  system  was  a  necessity  in  order  to  further 
the  cause  of  religion  and  to  offer  the  best  proof  of  the 
purity  and  the  sacredness  of  the  work  of  the  republic. 

Political  history  informs  us  that  at  the  same  time  the 
second  war  between  Sardinia  and  Austria  broke  out  in 
Upper  Italy.'  Charles  Albert  of  Sardinia  drew  once 
more  the  sword  of  Italy,  and  Toscana  was  liberated  by 
Guerazzi ;  but  the  decisive  victory  of  Radetzki  at  Novara 
(March  23,  1849)  completely  destroyed  the  high  hopes  of 
the  Italian  patriots. 

'  There  had  been  a  truce  from  August,  1848,  to  March,  1849. 


The  First  "  Liberal "  Period  of  Pins  IX.     125 

The  effect  upon  the  Romans  was  that  the  constituent 
assembly  now  nominated  a  dictatorial  triumvirate,  with 
Mazzini  at  its  head.  This  triumvirate  appealed  to  the 
people  with  a  solemn  proclamation  : 

Our  programme  is  our  mandate.  Preservation  of  the  repub- 
lic, protection  against  dangers  within  and  without,  a  worthy- 
representation  in  the  war  for  liberation:  this  is  our  duty  and 
we  shall  perform  it.  The  very  victories  which  oblige  the 
enemy  to  thin  out  his  army  by  expansion  may  sooner  or  later 
lead  to  his  defeat.  Your  forefathers  were  always  victorious 
because  they  declared  him  to  be  a  traitor  who  yielded  to  dan- 
ger, and  you  will  not  be  unworthy  of  these  forefathers,  not 
unworthy  of  the  banners  which  we  have  brought  from  the 
graves  of  our  ancestors  for  the  hope  of  Italy  and  the  admira- 
tion of  Europe. 

The  pope  again  protested  against  these  steps ;  at  the 
same  time  he  called  for  the  intervention  of  the  Catholic 
Powers.  The  French  republic  under  the  presidency  of 
Napoleon  accepted  the  call  to  destroy  the  sister-republic. 
But  although  the  French  landed  at  Civita  Vecchia  in 
April,  1849,  ^^  overwhelming  numbers,  the  resistance  of 
the  Romans  under  the  leadership  of  Garibaldi  was  so 
heroic  that  they  did  not  complete  the  conquest  until  the 
end  of  June.' 

The  pope  still  remained  outside.  September  12,  1849, 
he  published  at  Gaeta  a  motit  propria  promising  reforms 
in  the  finances  and  the  administration.     September  18, 

1849,  there  followed  a  decree  of  amnesty  with  almost 
more  exceptions  than  concessions.     It  was  not  till  April, 

1850,  that  he  returned.  The  Romans  remained  coldly 
silent ;  his  only  support  was  the  French  bayonets.  The 
capital  of  Christendom  did  not  thereby  become  more 
churchly-minded. 

'  From  this  time  the  Papacy  was  upheld  in  Rome  by  the  French,  in  the 
Legations  by  the  Austrians.  The  French  occupation  of  Rome  lasted  until 
1870. 


CHAPTER    IX 


PIUS   IX.  AT   THE   HEAD  OF  THE   EUROPEAN   REACTION  ' 
(1850-1859) 

THE  measures  with  which  Pius  began  his  reign  had 
been  in  effect  a  protest  against  the  principles  of 
Gregory;  in  April,  1850,  the  pope  returned  to  Rome  to 
follow  from  henceforth  in  the  steps  of  his  predecessor. 
All  his  subsequent  measures  have  a  decidedly  Jesuitical 
stamp.  No  pope  had  yielded  to  the  wishes  of  the  Jesuits 
to  the  same  extent  as  did  the  penitent  Pius.  His  rela- 
tions to  his  own  subjects  became  more  and  more  strained, 
until  finally  there  came  the  inevitable  reaction.  Never- 
theless, the  external  triumphs  of  this  period  were  almost 
greater  than  those  which  Pius  VH.  achieved  after  the 
restoration  of  the  Papacy. 

During  the  same  year,  1848,  in  which  the  pope,  after 
having  been  idolised,  became  a  hated  exile,  the  power  of 
the  Papacy  was  in  almost  all  countries  extraordinarily 
increased,  j  A  number  of  very  dissimilar  causes  co-op- 
erated towards  this  result,  the  mistakes  of  opponents 
no  less  than  the  efforts  of  friends.  The  governments 
above  all,  seduced  by  the  magic  formula  of  the  "  solidar- 
ity of  conservative  interests,"  increased  the  favour  form- 
erly shown  to  the  Curia  as  the  "  oldest  conservative 
power."  So-called  "  orthodox  "  Protestants  coquetted 
with  Roman  ecclesiasticism ;  in  all  Protestant  churches 

^  See  the  division  of  the  pontificate  of  Pius  into  four  periods,  page  114. 

126 


The  E^iropean  Reaction  127 

the  crypto-papal  tendencies  gained  in  influence  and  par- 
tially succeeded  in  capturing  the  ecclesiastical  authorities. 
Even  more  effective  were  the  operations  of  the  revolu- 
tionary party,  which,  blind  to  the  true  significance  of 
religion,  tended  to  strengthen  the  influence  of  the  priest- 
hood. The  public  elections  often  showed  that  the  cities 
were  outvoted  by  the  people  of  the  country  under  the 
leadership  of  the  priests;  unbelief,  as  always,  brought 
superstition  in  its  wake. 

All  external  conditions  were  shaping  themselves  favour- 
ably to  the  Papacy ;  Protestantism  was  powerless,  or  else 
its  representatives  gave  open  aid  to  the  enemy ;  and  all 
the  while  the  compact  force  of  Curialism,  working  with 
immense  and  magnificent  energy,  knew  hqw-to  use  the 
right  moment  to  fish  in  troubled  waters.  '  The  general 
demand  of  those  days  for  the  destruction  of  absolutism 
in  the  state  was  exploited  in  the  interests  of  ecclesiastical 
absolutism,  and  the  revolution  for  which  the  Vatican  was 
chiefly  responsible  was  made  use  of  to  get  rid  of  unfavour- 
able influences. 

The  rushing  "waters  of  the  revolution  were  led  into  the 
bed  of  clerical  societies;  there  was  formed  a  whole 
series  of  German  "  Catholic  "  associations,  the  deposit  of 
revolutionary  fermentation.  Alongside  of  the  open  so- 
cieties were  the  secret  congregations  and  fraternities,  and 
in  the  track  of  both  came  the  Jesuit  missions.  All  these 
separate  apparently  scattered  forces  were  not  split  up,  but 
were  made  to  operate  toward  the  same  common  end: 
not  only  to  make  the  Church  into  a  state  within  a  state, 
but  also  to  subject  to  it  the  whole  spiritual  life  of  the 
people,  in  the  school,  in  matrimony,  and  in  the  press ; 
and  this  end  was  achieved  by  the  wise  policy  of  the  epis- 
copate, which  from  the  first  moment  made  it  the  object 
of  their  efforts  to  exploit  the  triumphs  of  the  revolution 
in  their  own  interests.  To  all  this  are  to  be  added  the 
tactics  of  the  Vatican  itself,  turning  all  circumstances  to 


128  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centtiiy 

immediate  advantage.  Thus  it  was  enabled,  by  its  direc- 
tion of  the  army  of  auxiliaries,  to  convert  the  year  of  its 
adversity  into  a  year  of  triumph. 

Among  the  acts  of  the  pope  which  belong  to  this  period 
we  consider  first  those  of  a  religious  character.  All  these, 
whether  they  had  to  do  with  the  canonisations  of  in- 
dividuals or  with  questions  of  dogma,  show  him  to  be 
entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits.  After  these,  we 
shall  consider  his  political  measures,  in  allocutions  and 
concordats. 

The  series  of  beatifications  was  opened  immediately 
after  his  return  from  Gaeta,  July  i6,  1850,  with  the 
Jesuit,  Peter  Claver.  Other  members  of  the  Company 
of  Jesus  were  John  de  Britto  (beatified  May  18,  1852) 
and  Andrew  Bobola  (July  5,  1853),  and  later  the  well- 
known  German  Jesuit,  Peter  Canisius  (August  2,  1864). 
Among  the  other  orders,  only  the  order  of  the  Brothers 
of  Mercy  received  an  accession  to  the  beatified,  in  John 
Grande  (October  i,  1852);  besides  these,  two  founders  of 
new  congregations,  Paul  vom  Kreuze  (October  i,  1852) 
and  John  Leonardi  (July  9,  1861),  and  three  virgins  were 
received  into  the  same  class.  The  biographies  of  these 
worthies  are  full  of  unnatural  asceticism  and  unnatural 
miracles. 

The  pope  did  not  yet,  at  this  period,  undertake  any 
canonisations.  The  twenty-six  Japanese  martyrs  had  to 
wait  until  the  convention  of  bishops  in  the  year  1867. 
But  as  early  as  the  year  1854  we  hear  of  a  new  miracle- 
working  effigy  of  Mary  and  an  indulgence  of  the  papal 
vicar-general  in  connection  with  it;  and  not  less  than 
three  jubilees  were  crowded  into  the  years  between  185 1 
and  1857. 

All  these  are,  however,  events  of  secondary  importance, 
such  as  happen  under  every  pope.  But  this  period  of 
Pius  IX.    has  made  itself  ever  memorable  by  another 


The  Etiropean  Reaction  129 

unparalleled  event,  the  definition  of  a  new  dogma, — that 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  A 
writer  who  enjoyed  the  approval  of  the  pope  expresses 
himself  (some  years  before  the  papal  infallibility  was 
made  the  order  of  the  day)  in  the  following  manner  con- 
cerning this  event,  in  a  pamphlet  published  in  Vienna, 
1865,  entitled  Pius  IX.  as  Pope  and  as  King : 

This  is  an  event  peculiar  to  the  pontificate  of  Pius  IX.,  such 
as  no  former  pontificate  has  to  show;  for  the  pope  has  defined 
this  dogma  independently,  in  the  plenitude  of  his  own  author- 
ity, without  the  co-operation  of  a  council;  and  this  independ- 
ent definition  of  a  dogma  includes,  though  not  expressly  and 
formally,  nevertheless  without  a  doubt  and  actually,  another 
dogmatic  decision  :  namely,  the  decision  of  the  question 
whether  the  pope  in  matters  of  faith  is  infallible  in  his  own 
person,  or  whether  he  can  claim  this  infallibility  only  at  the 
head  of  a  council.  Pius  IX.  did  not,  by  his  action  of  De- 
cember 8,  1854,  theoretically  define,  but  he  did  practically 
claim,  the  infallibility  of  the  pope. 

That  is  to  say,  the  newly  conceived  idea  of  ultramontan- 
ism,  rejected  by  the  ancient  councils,  has  received  the 
papal  sanction.  Herein,  and  not  in  the  dogmatic  ques- 
tion, lies  the  historical  significance  of  this  event. 

How  much  the  pope  had  at  heart  this  favourite  doctrine 
of  the  Jesuits,  which  had  been  rejected  by  the  most 
eminent  representatives  of  the  mediaeval  Church,  was 
shown  by  the  fact  that  the  first  public  act  of  his  exile  in 
Gaeta,  the  encyclical  of  February  2,  1849,  announced  to 
the  bishops  the  creation  of  a  commission  for  the  decision 
of  this  question,  and  commanded  them  to  express  their 
views  upon  it.  Pius  in  this  letter  said  "  that  from  child- 
hood nothing  had  been  so  near  his  heart  as  to  adore  the 
most  blessed  Virgin  Mary  with  especial  piety  and  devotion 
and  with  the  most  sincere  heartfelt  love,  and  to  accom- 
plish all  that  would  serve  to  the  greater  honour  of  this 


130  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Cenhiry 

Virgin  and  to  the  furtherance  of  her  glory  and  worship." 
He  furthermore  expressed  his  hope  that  "  the  most  blessed 
Virgin,  who  had  ever  saved  Christian  people  from  all  evil, 
would,  in  her  merciful  love  as  mother,  turn  from  him  his 
adversities  and  sorrows  and  change  his  grief  into  joy." 
After  his  return  to  Rome,  which  according  to  this  view 
he  owed  to  the  intercession  of  Mary,  the  matter,  always 
dear  to  his  heart,  became  still  more  important,  and  all 
hesitation  and  difficulties  were  overcome  by  the  revela- 
tions of  hysterical  women  and  the  appearances  of  Madon- 
nas to  children.  The  miracles  of  La  Salette  and  the 
newly  added  miracles  of  Lourdes  finally  turned  the  scale. 

The  commission  created  for  taking  counsel  concerning 
the  new  dogma  rendered  in  December,  1853,  by  the 
mouth  of  Passaglia,  this  decision,  "  that  to  the  Virgin 
Mary,  on  account  of  her  sanctity  and  grace,  surpassing 
that  of  human  nature,  which  could  not  be  explained  on 
natural  grounds,  was  to  be  ascribed,  on  the  basis  of 
Scripture,  of  tradition,  and  of  the  existing  cult,  a  concep- 
tion untainted  by  hereditary  sin."  Passaglia  furnished 
more  extensive  proof  in  a  work  of  three  volumes. 

The  answers  of  the  bishops  to  the  request  for  their 
views  were  not  quite  so  unanimous.  None  of  them,  in- 
deed, opposed  the  dogma ;  but  thirty-two  declared  them- 
selves against  the  opportuneness  and  four  against  the 
competence  of  the  proposed  convention ;  and  among 
these  voices  in  opposition  were  that  of  Sibour  in  Paris, 
Diepenbrock  in  Breslau,  and  Schwarzenberg  in  Salzburg. 
Four  hundred  and  forty  prelates  yielded  to  the  desire  of 
the  pope. 

On  the  1st  of  August,  1854,  Pius  published  the  call  for 
a  council  in  Rome ;  at  the  same  time  he  called  for  the 
prayers  of  the  faithful,  and  proclaimed  the  indulgence  of 
a  jubilee.  The  intended  council,  when  it  met,  was  nothing 
more  than  an  episcopal  conference  of  192  prelates,  which 
held  its  first  session  on  November  20th  in  the  Vatican, 


The  Ettropean  Reaction  131 

and  on  December  4th  assented  nearly  unanimously  to  the 
proposition  of  the  pope.  On  the  8th  of  December  Pius 
celebrated  a  solemn  high  mass  in  the  Sistine  Chapel, 
placed  upon  the  effigy  of  the  Virgin  a  diadem  of  dia- 
monds, and  proclaimed  the  celebrated  bull,  Incffabilis 
Dcjis.      In  this  bull  he  declared 

by  virtue  of  the  authority  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  of  the  apostles 
Peter  and  Paul,  and  of  his  own:  that  the  doctrine,  which  main- 
tains that  Mary  in  the  first  moment  of  her  conception  was  by 
special  grace  and  special  privilege  of  God  preserved  from  all 
stain  of  hereditary  sin,  had  been  revealed  by  God  and  was 
therefore  to  be  believed  firmly  and  constantly  by  all  the 
faithful.  \ 

The  allocution  of  the  following  day  gave  expression  to 
the  papal  joy  and  pictured  the  errors  and  the  evils  of  the 
time,  the  war  with  which  was  placed  under  the  protection 
of_the  immaculate  mother  of  God. 

i  The  far-reaching  nature  of  the  revolution  which  had 
taken  place  in  the  development  of  Catholicism  from  the 
former  episcopal  aristocracy,  predominant  even  at  Trent, 
to  a  direct  papal  absolutism  was  made  evident  by  the  very 
slight  opposition  manifested  to  an  event  unheard  of  in 
the  history  of  the  Catholic  Church.J  The  whole  modern 
world  appeared  to  care  for  it  just  about  as  much  as  for  a 
dogmatic  decision  of  the  Dalai  Lama  of  Thibet  or  of  the 
Mikado  of  Japan  ;  even  the  representatives  of  the  Catho- 
lic episcopate  were  silent  at  the  evident  flouting  of  their 
rights.  The  wish  of  Frederick  William  IV.  to  put  into 
effect  a  common  protest  of  the  Evangelical  churches 
against  the  "  unbiblical  "  doctrine  failed  by  virtue  of 
the  absence  of  any  common  authority. 

The  few  voices  which  made  themselves  heard  in  oppos- 
ition were  isolated.  In  Italy  four  priests  appealed  to 
the  ancient  doctrine  of  the  Church  against  the  new  de- 
cision;   they   were    excommunicated.      The    same    fate 


132  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Cejitury 

overtook  a  priest,  Braun,  from  the  bishopric  of  Passau 
in  Bavaria,  who  had  likewise  used  his  knowledge  of  the 
middle  ages  to  his  own  injury.  Nevertheless  there  were 
occurrences  which  proved  that  under  a  smooth  surface 
all  was  not  so  quiet  as  it  seemed :  such  were  the  tragical 
assassination  of  Archbishop  Sibour  of  Paris  (1857),  with 
the  exclamation  of  the  ecclesiastical  murderer,  "  Down 
with  goddesses  "  ("  «  has  les  deesses  "),  the  attitude  of 
opposition  maintained  by  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  and 
the  government  in  Portugal,  the  public  ridicule  of  the 
dogma  in  Brussels,  finally  the  pastoral  letter  of  the  old- 
Catholic  bishops  in  Holland. 

This  last  document  is,  from  the  Catholic  point  of  view, 
undoubtedly  the  most  important.  The  letter  of  the 
bishops  to  the  pope  accompanying  it  proceeds  upon  the 
assumption  that  "  their  duty  of  watching  over  the  purity 
of  the  Catholic  faith  forbids  their  keeping  silence,  foras- 
much as  the  new  dogma  is  entirely  novel  in  its  teaching." 
They  furthermore  protest  against  the  slight  cast  upon 
the  episcopal  office  in  the  treatment  of  its  representatives 
by  the  papal  see,  and  finally  appeal  from  the  decision  of 
the  pope  to  a  future  general  council.  The  pastoral  itself 
contains  a  conclusive  refutation  of  all  the  arguments  cited 
in  the  papal  decree  in  favour  of  the  new  dogma.  In 
regular  order,  with  literal  citations  from  the  Scriptures, 
the  Church  fathers,  the  papal  constitutions,  and  other 
official  writings,  it  is  shown  : 

that  the  dogma  in  question  is  taught  neither  by  the  sacred 
Scriptures  nor  by  tradition ;  that  it  had  its  origin  in  the  four- 
teenth century  and  even  after  this  time  expressed  only  the 
sense  of  a  party;  that  the  wonderful  consensus  of  Catholic 
pastors  and  believers,  which  the  pope  asserted,  has  never  ex- 
isted; that  the  old  papal  constitutions  concerning  this  dogma 
were  only  intended  to  allay  the  disputes  to  which  it  had  given 
occasion,  without  deciding  for  or  against  it;  finally,  that,  for- 
asmuch as  the  immaculate  conception  had  not  been  believed 


The  European  Reaction  133 

either  everywhere  or  at  all  times  or  by  all,  it  could  not  consti- 
tute an  article  of  faith. 

The  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent  are  more  particularly 
examined;  the  dispute  of  the  Scotists  and  the  Thomists 
in  the  fourteenth  century,  also  the  battle  fought  in  Spain 
after  the  Council  of  Trent  between  Dominicans  and 
Jesuits,  are  exhaustively  treated ;  and  from  the  decisions 
of  former  popes  it  is  clearly  proved  that  none  of  them 
dared  to  settle  so  uncertain  a  matter  by  his  own  arbitrary 
decision. 

But,  however  convincing  this  polemic  was  to  the  veter- 
ans of  ancient  Catholicism,  Jesuitism  had  already  gained 
the  victory  in  the  Catholic  Church.  The  dogma  of 
Mary,  more  than  anything  else,  indisputably  proves  this 
fact ;  it  did  not  require  the  erection  of  monuments  to 
Mary  in  Rome,  Cologne,  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  elsewhere. 
In  the  allocution  already  referred  to  on  the  day  after  the 
proclamation  of  the  dogma,  the  pope  in  consistory  de- 
clared with  triumphant  joy:  "  We  know  the  feeling  of 
admiration  which  has  been  awakened  in  the  hearts  of 
men  for  the  Catholic  religion,  which  like  the  light  of  the 
sun  shines  before  the  eyes  of  all."  What  was  meant  by 
the  term  "  Catholic  religion  "  had  been  long  before  ex- 
plained by  the  paraphrase  of  Boniface  VIII.,  to  the  effect 
that  it  "  was  necessary  for  all  human  creatures  to  obey 
the  pope  of  Rome  under  pain  of  loss  of  salvation." 

The  growing  strength  of  the  Papacy  in  the  new  epoch 
manifests  itself  in  the  bulls  by  which  the  hierarchy  was 
"  restored  "  in  England  and  in  Holland,  the  former  on 
September  29,  1850,  the  latter  on  March  4,  1853.  The 
agitation  which  these  measures  produced  in  both  countries 
was  only  too  much  justified  by  the  conduct  of  the  Curia 
in  those  nationalities  where  a  longer  rule  made  more  de- 
cided measures  possible.     Thus  the  new  concordat  with 


134  "^^^^  Papacy  m  the  igth  Century 

Spain,  of  the  year  185 1,  expressly  prohibited  the  tolera- 
tion of  any  other  than  the  papal  Church,  likewise  the 
compacts  with  several  South  American  states.  The 
ecclesiastical  dispute  in  the  upper  Rhinelands,  which 
reached  its  climax  in  1854,  was  intended  to  establish  the 
rule  of  the  Curia  where  the  denominations  were  equally 
divided.  The  Austrian  concordat  of  August  18,  1855, 
had  buried  the  last  remnant  of  Josephine  ideas  and  made 
the  imperial  state  once  more  the  paradise  of  the  hierarchy ; 
and  after  prolonged  futile  negotiations  the  smaller  states 
succumbed  to  the  pressure  of  Austria.  The  conventions 
with  Wiirtemberg  and  Baden,  the  compromises  with 
Hesse-Darmstadt  and  Nassau,  were  worthy  offshoots  of 
the  Austrian  concordat.  Everywhere  we  see  again  the 
immutable  policy  of  the  Curia  gaining  ground  in  the 
struggle  against  the  modern  state. 

The  time  had  come — so  the  Vatican  thought — when  it 
might  with  impunity  set  the  whole  civilised  world  at 
naught.  The  abduction  of  the  eight-year-old  Jewish 
boy,  Mortara,  in  Bologna,  under  the  pretence  that  two 
years  before  he  had  received  private  baptism  from  his 
Christian  nurse,  was,  in  spite  of  all  protests,  sustained 
(July,  1859).'  "^^Q  mediaeval  superiority  of  the  pope  to 
every  human  law  seemed  to  have  returned.  The  divine 
retribution  was  soon  to  follow. 

'  Edgar  Mortara  was  seized  by  order  of  the  archbishop  of  Bologna.  The 
French  government  interfered  to  obtain  his  release,  and  Sir  Moses  Monte- 
fiore  went  to  Rome  for  the  same  purpose.  A  protest  against  the  seizure  was 
signed  by  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  by  bishops,  noblemen,  and  gentle- 
men of  England. 


CHAPTER  X 


THE   PAPACY  DURING  THE  RECONSTRUCTION  OF  ITALY  * 
AND   GERMANY   (1859-1870) 

IN  the  beginning  of  January,  1859,  ^he  French  Moniteur 
published  a  series  of  letters  from  Rome,  by  Edmond 
About,  which  made  a  startling  disclosure  of  the  corrupt 
regime  prevalent  in  the  ecclesiastical  states.  Among 
other  things  we  read  this : 

The  Roman  Church  comprehends,  not  counting  the  Jewish 
boy  Mortara,  139  millions  of  souls.  It  is  governed  by  seventy 
cardinals  or  princes  of  the  Church,  as  it  first  was  by  twelve 
apostles.  The  cardinals  are  nominated  by  the  pope,  the  pope 
by  the  cardinals.  From  the  day  of  his  election  the  pope  be- 
comes infallible — at  least  according  to  the  view  of  de  Maistre 
and  the  best  Catholics  of  our  time.  Bossuet  did  not  believe 
this,  but  the  popes  have  always  believed  it.  If  the  head  of 
the  Church  declares  that  the  Virgin  Mary  was  born  without 
taint  of  hereditary  sin,  the  139  millions  of  Catholics  are 
obliged  to  take  his  word  for  it.  This  discipline  of  the  spirits 
is  much  to  the  credit  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  posterity 
will  be  grateful  to  us  for  it.  It  will  acknowledge  that  we, 
instead  of  breaking  our  necks  over  theological  disputes,  have 

'  "  The  process  [the  union  of  Italy]  occupied  eleven  years  and  was  made 
in  five  successive  annexations  :  Lombardy,  1859  I  Tuscany,  Modena  and 
Parma,  Romagna,  January,  i860 ;  Kingdom  of  Naples,  the  Marches,  and 
Umbria,  at  the  end  of  i860  ;  Venetia,  1866  ;  Rome,  1870.  The  first  three 
operations  formed  a  continuous  series  which  ended  in  the  creation  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Italy." — Seignobos. 

135 


136  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

devoted  ourselves  to  the  building  of  railroads  and  telegraphs, 
and  to  the  construction  of  steam-engines,  without  entering 
into  quarrels  about  the  infallibility  of  a  man.  But  even  a 
generation  so  busy  as  this  may  feel  itself  obliged  for  once  to 
turn  its  attention  from  its  own  business  and  to  apply  it  to  the 
spark  which  for  years  has  been  secretly  smouldering  in  the 
ecclesiastical  state,  which  within  twenty-four  hours  may  set 
all  Europe  in  a  blaze. 

There  follows  a  description  of  the  wretched  condition  of 
affairs  in  the  ecclesiastical  state,  given  with  that  mastery 
of  style  which  is  the  special  gift  of  the  French.  But  it  was 
not  so  much  the  literary  excellence  which  gave  to  these 
letters  their  importance;  the  most  significant  fact  was 
that  they  appeared  in  the  Moniteur,  and  that,  after  it  had 
been  inhibited,  they  were  sold  without  hindrance  all  over 
France. 

Soon  followed  the  war  of  1859,  i^^  which  France  and 
Sardinia  were  united  against  Austria.'  The  offer  of  the 
pope  to  give  up  the  foreign  garrisons  was  made  too  late, 
nor  could  the  intervention  of  England  prevent  the  war. 
The  brave  Austrian  army  was  defeated  at  Magenta  and 
Solferino,  more  in  consequence  of  the  incapacity  of  its 
leaders  than  of  the  bravery  of  its  enemies.  Again  the 
destiny  of  Rome  was  decided  in  the  fields  of  upper  Italy. 
As  soon  as  the  Austrians  had  evacuated  the  papal  pro- 
vinces (they  left  Bologna  June  13,  1859),  ^^^  provinces 
rose  in  insurrection  against  the  pope.  The  bloody  con- 
quest of  Perugia  by  the  papal  troops  only  increased  the 
bitterness  of  feeling,  and  at  the  end  of  June  the  whole 
of  the  Romagna  was  freed  from  the  rule  of  the  pope. 

Then  came  the  unexpected  peace  of  Villafranca  (July 
II,  1859)  between  France  and  Austria.  This  peace 
promised  the  restoration  to  their  sovereigns  of  Tuscany, 

^  Napoleon  and  Cavour  had  formed  an  alliance,  whose  object  was  the 
expulsion  of  the  Austrians  from  Italy. 


Reconstruction  of  Italy  and  Germany        137 

Modena,  and  Parma,'  and  the  papal  states  were  to  be  re- 
stored to  the  pope,  but  only  in  case  this  were  possible 
without  armed  intervention.  There  was,  however,  not 
the  least  expectation  of  a  peaceful  restoration  on  the  part 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Romagna,  and  the  encyclical  of 
June  1 8th  concerning  the  necessity  of  the  temporal  power, 
as  well  as  that  of  September  26th  concerning  the  spoli- 
ation of  the  Romagna,  were  ineffectual  to  accomplish  the 
purpose. 

The  year  1859  "^^^s  not  to  expire  without  making  the 
dangers  of  the  future  appear  even  more  threatening  than 
the  losses  of  the  present.  The  pamphlet.  The  Pope  and 
the  Congress,  issued  anonymously  from  Paris,  and  calling 
forth  within  a  few  weeks  more  than  a  hundred  other 
writings /r^  and  con,  made  the  problem  of  the  temporal 
power  of  the  pope  a  burning  question  of  the  day.  This 
pamphlet  not  only  raised  the  question  as  to  how  the  head 
of  a  Church  which  excommunicates  heretics  could  at  the 
same  time  be  the  head  of  the  state  which  protects  liberty 
of  conscience;  it  made  the  direct  demand  upon  the  pope 
to  sacrifice  his  temporal  power  to  the  love  of  peace,  the 
welfare  of  his  subjects,  the  general  good  and  the  peace  of 
Europe ;  he  was  to  be  indemnified  by  other  sources  of  in- 
come, and  was  to  keep  Rome  as  his  capital.  This  plan 
(which  in  its  essence  Napoleon  I.  had  favoured)  was  re- 
peated, somewhat  modified,  in  the  letter  which  Napoleon 
III.  addressed  to  the  pope,  December  31,  1859,  ^'^  which 
he  demanded  renunciation  of  the  lost  provinces,  and 
promised  the  guarantee  of  the  Catholic  Powers  for  the 
rest  of  the  papal  territory.  The  pope  was  to  acknow- 
ledge the  king  of  Italy  as  his  vicar  over  the  Romagna; 

'  The  duke  of  Modena,  the  duchess  of  Parma,  and  the  grand  duke  of 
Tuscany  had  been  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  Austria  and  Switzerland.  Pro- 
visional governments  had  been  formed  and  the  union  of  these  duchies  with 
Sardinia  proclaimed. 


138  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centtiry 

the  Catholic  Powers  were  to  provide  an  army  corps  for 
the  preservation  of  order  in  Rome, 

The  above-mentioned  pamphlet  was  generally  ascribed 
to  the  counsellor  of  state,  La  Gueronniere.  The  allocu- 
tion of  January  i,  i860,  characterised  it  as  a  network  of 
hypocrisy  and  contradictions.  The  encyclical  of  January 
19th,  in  answer  to  Napoleon's  demand,  contained  the  first 
instance  of  the  Non  possunms,  which  later  became  so 
celebrated:  "  The  pope  cannot  give  up  what  belongs  not 
to  him,  but  to  all  Catholics;  by  such  renunciation  he 
would  violate  his  oath,  his  dignity,  and  his  rights,  en- 
courage insurrection  in  the  remaining  provinces,  and 
injure  the  rights  of  all  Christian  princes."  In  answer 
to  all  further  proposals  Pius,  by  the  mouth  of  Antonelli, 
persevered  in  this  refusal. 

At  the  same  time  all  the  means  of  which  papal  Rome 
had  the  disposition  were  put  into  motion.  The  episco- 
pacy of  all  countries  entered  a  protest  against  "  an  act 
of  violence,  by  which  an  attack  is  made  upon  the  most 
ancient  of  all  possessions,  and  by  which  all  ideas  of  right 
and  all  legal  relations  are  brought  into  question."  Bishop 
Dupanloup  of  Orleans  was  pre-eminent  in  the  general 
chorus  by  the  most  violent  invectives;  the  Prussian 
bishops,  expressing  their  opinion  in  a  joint  manifesto, 
would  have  reduced  their  Protestant  prince '  to  the  posi- 
tion of  a  servant  of  the  pope-king.  Innumerable  were  the 
demonstrations  by  which  the  Catholic  nations  were  stirred 
up,  the  addresses,  assemblies,  sermons,  associations  for 
prayer,  etc. 

The  greatest  actual  profit  was  derived  from  the  Peter's 
pence  which  was  everywhere  called  for;  but  even  the 
costliest  gifts  were  totally  consumed  in  the  fitting  out  of 
a  papal  army  "  which  consisted  of  sundry  knights  of  the 
faith,  of  drunken  Irishmen,  of  vagabonds  from  all  nations, 
and  Austrian  soldiers  on  furlough."     As  leader  of  this 

'  Frederick  William  IV.,  1S40-1861. 


Reconstruction  of  Italy  and  Germajiy       139 

army,  the  old  African  hero,  Lamoriciere,  aspired  to  the 
fame  of  a  modern  Don  Quixote. 

To  these  worldly  weapons  was  added  the  once-dreaded 
excommunication.  After  the  vote  taken  in  the  annexed 
countries '  excommunication  was  on  the  26th  of  March, 
i860,  solemnly  pronounced  upon  all  those 

who  had  been  guilty  of  rebellion,  invasion,  usurpation,  and 
any  of  the  other  outrages  named  in  the  allocution;  all  instig- 
ators, helpers,  counsellors,  and  adherents  of  such,  all  those 
who  had  facilitated  the  execution  of  these  deeds  of  violence 
or  had  executed  them;  finally  all  those  who,  themselves  sons 
of  the  Church,  had  reached  such  a  degree  of  impudence  that, 
while  continually  protesting  their  reverence  for  and  devotion 
to  the  Church,  they  attacked  her  temporal  power  and  despised 
her  authority. 

No  names  were  given,  but  the  indications  as  to  who  were 
meant  were  clear  enough. 

But  the  existence  of  the  states  of  the  Church  was 
so  much  opposed  to  the  most  essential  needs  of  the 
Italian  people,  that  little  heed  was  given  to  its  claims.'' 
In  fact,  the  effect  was  rather  the  opposite  of  that  in- 
tended. The  clerical  agitation  and  the  papal  preparations 
for  war  after  Garibaldi  had  undertaken  his  celebrated 
expedition  to  Sicily  and  had  crossed  to  the  mainland 
(i860),  served  as  a  pretext  for  demanding  the  dissolution 
of  the  papal  army  of  foreign  mercenaries,  and  for  the 
entrance  of  Italian  troops  into  Umbria  and  the  Marches. 
The  engagement  of  Castelfidardo  (September  18,  i860), 

'  By  a  vote  taken  in  March,  iS6o,  Tuscany,  Modena,  and  Parma  pro- 
nounced for  union  with  Sardinia. 

^  The  following  events  in  Italy  must  here  be  recalled  :  Garibaldi  con- 
quered Sicily  and  Naples  from  Francis  II.  in  i860.  In  the  same  year  the 
Sardinian  troops  entered  the  papal  states  and  defeated  the  troops  of  the 
pope  at  Castelfidardo  in  the  Marches.  Naples  and  Sicily  voted  to  join 
the  kingdom  of  Sardinia.  The  whole  of  Italy  except  Venice  and  the  Cam- 
pagna  was  now  united,  and  in  February,  1861,  the  first  Parliament  of  united 
Italy  was  opened  by  Cavour. 


140  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

in  which  the  papal  troops  were  defeated  by  the  Piedmont- 
ese,  left  to  the  Curia  only  the  cheap  consolation  of  de- 
corating the  fallen  with  martyr  crowns.  The  conquest 
of  Ancona  took  away  the  last  stronghold  except  the  actual 
patrimony  of  St.  Peter.  Umbria  and  the  Marches  be- 
came, like  Naples,  the  booty  of  the  "  Piedmontese  beast 
of  prey,"  and  after  the  conquest  of  Gaeta  the  first  Italian 
Parliament  was  able  to  greet  the  first  king  of  Italy  (Feb- 
ruary, 1861). 

ii  The  end  of  the  open  war  only  changed  the  scene  of  the 
struggle;  and  the  war  of  opposing  principles  became  all 
the  more  embittered.]  While  the  pope  is  being  supported 
by  the  episcopate  and  foreign  nations  rival  one  another 
in  demonstrations  of  devotion,  two  addresses  are  issued 
from  Rome,  in  May,  1861,  with  ten  thousand  signatures, 
for  the  liberation  of  the  capital  of  Italy.  A  series  of  new 
pamphlets, —  Pope  and  Emperor  —  Rome  and  the  French 
Bishops  —  France,  Rome,  aiid  Italy, —  was  published  in 
Paris.  Cardinals  such  as  Liverani  and  d 'Andrea,  popu- 
lar preachers  such  as  Gavazzi,  scholars  such  as  Passaglia, 
however  much  they  differed  among  each  other,  were 
united  in  their  opposition  to  the  papal  rule,  and  an  over- 
whelming majority  of  the  lower  Italian  clergy  ranged 
themselves  with  them  on  the  side  of  the  nation. 

The  party  of  Passaglia,  representing  the  so-called  Pas- 
saglism,  formed  a  sign  of  the  times  whose  significance  is 
inferior  to  none.  Whether  Passaglia  was  right  or  wrong, 
whether  his  voice  commanded  attention  in  Rome  or  not, 
— not  in  the  result  of  this  movement  lay  its  chief  import- 
ance, but  in  the  fact  that  it  existed  at  all,  and  that  an 
exceedingly  large  part  of  the  lower  clergy  enthusiastically 
adopted  these  views.  Terribly  incisive  were  the  repre- 
sentations of  this  Italian,  priest  and  Jesuit: 

Who  is  so  blind,  so  short-sighted,  as  not  to  see  that  the  Italian 
people  is  running  into  the  danger  of  forsaking  the  paradise  of 


Reconstruction  of  Italy  and  Germany        141 

the  Church  ?  that  this  danger  is  not  far  off  but  near,  not  small 
but  very  great  ?  A  large  number  of  Italians  have  already 
openly  or  in  secret  separated  themselves  from  this  mother  and 
thus  she  is  robbed  of  a  multitude  of  chosen  children;  a  large 
part  of  the  clergy  are  in  dispute  with  the  majority  of  the  laity; 
almost  all  the  pastors  are  separated  from  their  flocks,  and  the 
pastor  of  pastors  himself,  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  the  august 
vicar  of  Christ  upon  earth,  hurls  censures  and  excommunica- 
tion against  the  Italian  kingdom  and  against  Italian  society. 
Better  it  were  to  consider  whether  in  the  present  disposition 
of  the  Italians  the  excommunication  hurled  against  them  may 
not  awaken  more  of  bitterness  than  of  improvement,  may  not 
rather  mortally  wound  than  cauterise  the  wound. 

That  this  representation  was  not  exaggerated  was 
proved  by  the  immense  approbation  which  Garibaldi 
found  in  all  Italy,  even  when  he  declared  that  "  he  pro- 
fessed the  religion  of  Christ,  not  the  religion  of  the  pope 
and  the  cardinals,  the  enemies  of  Italy,"  and  when  he 
called  upon  the  people  to  "  cut  the  cancer  of  the  Papacy 
out  of  Italy."  Even  in  the  German  Rome,  in  Munich, 
where,  according  to  repeated  rumours,  the  exiled  pope 
would  most  likely  have  sought  a  refuge,  Dollinger,  the 
provost  of  the  Collegiate  Church,  delivered  in  April, 
1 86 1,  his  lectures  on  the  states  of  the  Church,  those 
lectures  which  created  so  much  excitement  and  whose 
real  significance  only  few  guessed  at  the  time. 

The  diplomatic  fencing  which  began  in  1861  and  con- 
tinued almost  during  the  entire  decade,  especially  between 
Rome  and  Paris,  may  well  be  passed  over  in  an  account 
of  ecclesiastical  history.  The  policy  of  the  Vatican  is 
illustrated  by  the  assembly  of  European  bishops  that 
took  place  in  Rome  upon  occasion  of  the  canonisation  of 
the  Japanese  martyrs  (1567),  with  the  address  of  submis- 
sion signed  by  21  cardinals,  4  patriarchs,  53  archbishops, 
and  187  bishops,  which  advocated  the  necessity  of  the 
temporal  dominion  of  the  pope  (June  8,  1862),  and  the 


142  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centujy 

allocution  of  the  latter  on  the  following  day.  Italian 
popular  sentiment  is  shown  in  the  addresses  of  the  lower 
clergy,  published  by  Passaglia,  whose  signatures  soon 
reached  to  beyond  10,000,  as  well  as  in  the  enthusiastic 
address  in  which,  in  answer  to  the  vituperations  of  the 
foreign  bishops,  the  Italian  Parliament  gathered  round  its 
king  (June  i8th). 

Garibaldi's  expedition  to  the  capital,  with  the  watch- 
word, "  Rome  or  death,"  suffered  shipwreck  at  Aspro- 
monte  (August  29,  1862)';  but  the  suppression  of  this 
insurrection  by  the  government  secured  the  recognition 
of  Italy  by  the  great  Powers.  The  convention  between 
France  and  Italy  of  September,  1864,  which  made  Flor- 
ence the  capital  instead  of  Turin  and  promised  the  with- 
drawal of  the  French  troops,  soon  proved  to  be  simply 
another  provisional  arrangement. 

In  the  pope's  answer  to  this  movement  he  changed  his 
base  from  the  political  to  the  ecclesiastical  ground.  This 
answer  was  given  in  the  encyclical  of  December  8,  1864. 
The  Syllabus  vv^hich  accompanies  this  encyclical,  treating 
of  the  errors  to  be  avoided  by  papists,  comprehends  about 
everything  on  earth  that  is  subject  to  the  papal  anathema, 
and  places  itself  in  opposition  to  all  the  best  elements  of 
modern  civilisation  just  as  much  as  to  revolution  and  to 
infidelity. 

The  chief  enemy  whom  Pius  attacks  in  his  Syllabus  re- 
ceives the  name  of  Naturalism,  as  the  comprehensive  de- 
signation of  all  those  errors  that  oppose  themselves  to 
the  influence  of  the  Church  upon  individuals  and  upon 
nations.  All  the  consequences,  as  well,  of  this  naturalistic 
view  of  things  are  individually  condemned  :  so  the  "  damn- 
able pernicious  errors  "  of  freedom   of  religion  and  of 

^  The  Italian  government  was  obliged  to  interfere  in  this  attempt  of 
Garibaldi,  and  sent  troops  against  him,  by  whom  he  was  wounded  and 
captured  at  Aspromonte. 


Reconstruction  of  Italy  and  Germa^iy        143 

worship,  of  the  independence  of  the  temporal  from  the 
spiritual  power,  the  theory  of  popular  sovereignty,  and 
the  errors  of  socialism  and  communism.  Through  the 
influence  of  all  these  monstrous  principles  human  society 
has  become  endangered ;  it  can  only  be  saved  by  the 
restitution  of  all  rights  belonging  to  the  Church  over 
princes  and  peoples.  For  while  the  pope,  in  his  own 
opinion,  may  bring  all  worldly  affairs  before  his  tribunal, 
princes  may  not,  upon  any  pretext,  interfere  in  matters 
of  religion.  The  Catholic  religion  is  alone  entitled  to  the 
public  exercise  of  worship,  every  other  form  of  worship 
is  to  be  suppressed,  and  the  crime  of  heresy  is  to  be 
punished. 

The  Syllabus  of  eighty  errors,  cited  by  name,  divides 
itself  into  ten  chapters:  naturalism  and  absolute  rational- 
ism, moderate  rationalism,  indifferentism,  socialism  to- 
gether with  secret  associations  and  Bible  societies,  errors 
concerning  the  Church,  concerning  civil  society,  con- 
cerning morals,  concerning  matrimony,  concerning  the 
temporal  power  of  the  popes;  finally  the  errors  of  modern 
liberalism.  The  last-cited  error,  which  really  compre- 
hends all  others,  is  this,  that  the  pope  can  and  must  recon- 
cile himself  with  progress,  liberalism,  and  with  modern 
civilisation. 

In  spite  of  the  unambiguous  anathemas  of  the  Syllabus, 
a  good  deal  of  ingenuity  was  spent,  especially  in  France 
and  Germany,  to  soften  and  change  the  meaning  of  some 
expressions.  Even  Curci  '  attempted  to  show,  in  1881, 
that  all  the  sentences  of  the  Syllabus  could  not  have  the 
same  binding  power  as  articles  of  faith,  because  they 
originated  in  different  kinds  of  acta  Pontificis,  in  briefs, 
encyclicals,  allocutions,  etc.,  and  that  not  one  of  them 
was  taken  from  an  actual  dogmatic  bull.  But  quite  irre- 
spective of  the  fact  that  this  only  suggests  again  the 

'  See  page  25,  note  i. 


144  1^^^  Papacy  in  the  igth  Cenhiry 

well-known  question,  When  does  the  pope  really  speak 
ex  catJicdra  ?  the  extension  of  infallibility  to  the  anathe- 
mas of  the  Syllabus  has  been  expressly  decided  by  Leo 
XIII.  (April  21,  1878). 

More  memorable,  however,  than  the  arts  of  interpreta- 
tion by  which  the  majority  of  learned  Catholics  thought 
to  reconcile  themselves  to  the  Syllabus,  was  the  indiffer- 
ence which  the  Protestant  world  once  more  showed  to- 
wards these  renewed  papal  pretensions.  Most  scholars 
looked  upon  the  Syllabus  as  a  rusted  sword.  The  histor- 
ian Sybel  has  declared  that  the  frivolity  or  the  ignorance 
with  which  the  statesmen  disregarded  this  frank  declara- 
tion of  papal  sovereignty  has  few  parallels  in  history. 

The  Curia  did  not  conceal  its  purposes,  neither  did  its 
Jesuit  press.  To  all  attempts  at  a  mutual  approach  which 
the  kingdom  of  Italy  made  (such  was  the  mission  of 
Vegezzi  in  1865  '  and  many  others  which  did  not  become 
known  to  the  public),  the  papal  secretary  of  state  an- 
swered with  the  now  proverbial  Non  possiimus. 

In  the  relations  to  other  states  also  the  old  irreconcil- 
able spirit  was  inclining  to  more  drastic  modes  of  expres- 
sion than  ever  before.  This  statement  applies  to  the 
school  dispute  in  Baden,  to  the  insurrection  of  the  Poles 
against  Russia  (1860-63),  so  full  of  horrors,  to  the  Sisy- 
phus-like attempts  of  the  poor  Emperor  Maximilian  of 
Mexico  to  satisfy  the  insatiable  demands  of  the  clerical 
party.  A  like  intensification  in  the  language  of  the 
Curia  is  shown  in  the  brief  of  September,  1865,  against 
"  that  abandoned  society  generally  called  Freemasons." 
The  fact  that  the  king  of  Prussia  was  the  head  of  the 

1  This  mission  was  for  the  purpose  of  an  agreement  with  the  pope  about 
the  bishoprics  which  remained  unfilled.  The  Italian  government  wished 
to  have  the  number  of  bishops  reduced.  If  there  had  been  59  instead  of 
230,  there  would  still  have  been  a  bishop  to  every  250,000  souls,  a  third  of 
the  number  in  the  Belgian  dioceses.  The  pope  would  not  hear  of  this,  and 
the  negotiations  were  broken  off. 


Reconstruction  of  Italy  and  Germany        145 

national  lodge  gave  to  this  papal  declaration  of  love  a 
peculiarly  piquant  flavour. 

The  Curia  has  always  been  accustomed  to  mingle 
spiritual  pretensions  with  political  intrigue.  And  its 
hopes  were,  after  the  issue  of  the  Syllabus,  founded  upon 
the  increasing  confusion  of  the  political  situation,  espe- 
cially upon  the  growing  tension  between  Prussia  and 
Austria.  From  the  centres  of  the  anti-Prussian  agitation 
the  emissaries  of  the  Jesuits  understood  how  to  lay  far 
and  wide  their  network  of  wires.  The  grand  duchy  of 
Baden  was  undermined  by  the  agitations.  Ranke's 
disclosures  of  the  religious  background  to  the  preparations 
for  the  Seven  Years'  War  find  in  no  small  degree  their 
parallel  in  the  events  leading  up  to  the  war  of  1866  be- 
tween Austria  and  Prussia.  That  in  the  eyes  and  in  the 
sense  of  the  Curia  it  was  a  religious  war  is  attested  by  the 
expression  of  Antonelli  when  the  news  was  brought  to 
him  of  the  battle  of  Sadowa :  '^Casca  it  niondo."  In  perfect 
agreement  with  this  view,  Windhorst  afterwards  traced 
to  this  battle-field  the  origin  of  the  Kiilturkanipf  in 
Prussia.  The  policy  of  Prussia  towards  the  Curia,  which 
was  at  that  time  very  compliant,  cannot  well  be  charged 
with  being  the  cause  of  this  conflict.  The  simple  truth 
is  that  the  papal  principle  stood  in  irreconcilable  opposi-^  n/ 
"tion  to  the  modern  state  as  represented  by  Prussia:  the 
clerical  journals  of  the  time  leave  no  doubt  of  that  fact. 

The  war  of  1866  added  the  Venetian  territory  to  the 
Italian  state  (Lombardy  had  been  won  in  1859).  And 
now  the  national  demand,  which  would  be  satisfied  with 
nothing  else  but  Rome  for  the  capital,  became  all  the 
more  urgent.  The  national  hero,  who  during  the  official 
war  had  been  forced  into  the  background,  thought  to  cut 
with  the  sword  the  Gordian  knot  of  double-tongued 
policy.'     But  hardly  had  Garibaldi  with  his  little  band 

*  In  October,  1867,  Garibaldi  renewed  his  cry,  "Rome  or  death,"  and 
gathered  about  eight  thousand  followers.     The  Italian  government,  which, 


146  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

started  for  Rome,  when  the  French  emperor  ordered  the 
return  into  the  ecclesiastical  state  of  the  troops  that  had 
been  withdrawn  the  year  before.  At  Mentana — so  says 
the  official  report  of  the  French  general — the  chassepots 
performed  miracles.  Once  more  was  Rome  kept  out  of 
the  hands  of  her  children  by  a  foreign  occupation. 

The  nature  of  the  hopes  which  the  Curia  cherished,  and 
to  which  these  miracles  of  Mentana  gave  fresh  impetus, 
was  made  manifest  at  the  so-called  centenary  of  Peter, 
June  20,  1867.  The  pompous  assembly  of  bishops  gave 
to  the  pope-kingship  a  dogmatic  consecration.  The 
bishops  declared  solemnly : 

The  see  of  St.  Peter  has  remained  for  eighteen  centuries 
immovable  and  inviolate  as  the  organ  of  truth,  the  centre  of 
unity,  the  foundation  and  bulwark  of  freedom,  while  kingdoms 
and  empires  have  been  perpetually  rising  and  falling.  There- 
fore they  offer  to  the  pope  the  well-merited  testimonial  of  their 
reverence  and  give  public  expression  to  their  wishes  for  the 
preservation  of  his  temporal  power  and  for  the  sacred  cause 
of  religion  and  of  justice  which  he  defends.  It  is  the  dearest 
and  most  sacred  object  of  their  hearts  to  believe  and  to  teach 
what  the  pope  believes  and  teaches,  to  reject  the  errors  that 
he  rejects,  to  march  under  his  leadership,  to  fight  at  his  side, 
prepared  with  him  to  meet  all  dangers,  all  visitations,  and  all 
trials. 

The  pope's  answer  to  this  episcopal  address  and  his  pub- 
lic allocutions  breathed  an  intensified  war  spirit  and  a 
hope  "  to  break  through  the  ranks  of  his  enemies." 

A  teacher  of  religion  in  a  Prussian  gymnasium  proved 
the  temporal  possessions  of  the  popes  to  be  the  special 
work  of  divine   Providence,  and  exemplified   it  by  the 

in  1864,  had  engaged  to  protect  the  possessions  of  the  pope,  could  not  give 
him  aid.  Garibaldi  persevered  and  fought  at  Mentana,  near  Rome.  He 
had  beaten  back  the  papal  troops,  when  the  French  advanced  and  began  to 
shoot  down  Garibaldi's  men  by  hundreds  with  their  chassepots. 


Reconstruction  of  Italy  and  Germany        147 

unhappy  end  of  the  Hohenstaufen  emperors.  Archbishop 
Manning  and  Bishop  Martin  issued  pastoral  letters  to 
prepare  for  the  completion  of  the  work  by  the  general 
council  which  the  pope  had  in  view. 

But  even  the  most  pronounced  devotees  of  the  Papacy 
were  surpassed  by  Pius  IX.  himself  in  total  disregard  and 
unconcealed  contempt  for  liberty  of  conscience.  The 
canonisation  of  Pedro  Arbues,  which  he  performed,  was 
the  exaltation  of  the  Inquisition  in  the  person  of  one  of 
its  most  detestable  executioners.  By  placing  the  so- 
called  "  martyrs  of  Gorkum  "  '  upon  the  Roman  calen- 
dar, judgment  was  pronounced  upon  the  war  for  the 
liberation  of  the  Netherlands.  Whether  the  canonisation 
of  Balthasar  Gerards  (the  murderer  of  William  the  Silent), 
which  had  been  proposed  in  the  college  of  cardinals  at 
the  time  of  the  first  counter-reformation,  came  again 
under  consideration  is  not  known. 

Alzog,  an  orthodox  writer  of  "correct  "  opinions,  has 
himself  testified  of  Pius  IX.  that  "  he  performed  more 
beatifications  and  canonisations  than  any  of  his  prede- 
cessors." Upon  the  same  occasion  he  refers  to  the  de- 
cree of  December  10,  1863,  by  which  doubts  concerning 
the  genuineness  of  relics,  especially  the  little  bottles  of 
blood,  were  rebuked  "  to  avoid  giving  offence  to  the 
faithful."  It  is  remarkable  that  Alzog  in  this  connection 
allows  himself  the  observation  that  "  this  decree  is  not 
sufficient  in  view  of  the  frequent  reappearance  of  renewed 
doubts."  Such  rebellion  against  a  papal  decision,  which 
surely  was  delivered  ex  cathedra,  will  probably  have  to 
be  cancelled  in  the  next  edition. 

Hardly  a  year  passed  without  all  sorts  of  spectacles  and 
demonstrations,  in  which  not  only  was  the  Papacy  identi- 
fied with  Christianity,  but  the  pope  himself  personally  put 
in  the  place  of  Christ.      The  year  1869  was  distinguished 

'  The  nineteen  priests  and  friars  who  were  put  to  death  by  William  de. 
la  Marck  when  he  captured  Gorkum  for  the  United  Provinces  in  1572. 


148  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

by  the  semi-centennial  jubilee  of  the  pope's  priesthood. 
It  was  celebrated  with  great  pomp  not  only  in  Rome,  but 
in  the  smallest  parishes.  In  Germany  there  was  much 
sung  on  this  occasion  the  so-called  "  Pius  hymn,"  which 
addresses  the  pope  explicitly  as  sinless : 

Pius,  the  priest,  in  humble  admiration 
We  look  to  thee,  a  sinful  generation  ; 

No  sin  in  thee  we  see  ; 
Thou  wonderful  flower  of  the  altar, 
Of  our  nature  the  highest  exalter — 

We  point  with  pride  to  thee. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   FIRST   VATICAN   COUNCIL 

THE  inner  organic  connection  between  the  encyclical  of 
December  8,  1864  [The  Syllabus  encyclical],  and  the  ecu- 
menical council  called  by  His  Holiness  Pope  Pius  IX.,  which 
is  to  be  opened  this  year,  is  self-evident.  The  plans  which 
were  there  initiated  are  here  to  be  extended,  completed,  and 
by  the  most  solemn  act  at  the  disposition  of  the  Church  to  be 
made  the  most  common  and  lasting  possible  property  of  the 
Church. 

With  these  words  the  German  organ  of  the  Jesuits,  the 
Voices  from  Maria-Laach,  introduced  its  readers  into  the 
business  of  the  council  before  it  had  met.  At  the  same 
time  (February  6,  1869),  the  Roman  organ,  the  Civilta 
Cattolica,  created  a  sensation  by  publishing  an  article  in 
which  the  proclamation  of  the  personal  infallibility  of  the 
pope  was  expressly  defined  as  the  means  to  the  dogma- 
tisation  of  the  Syllabus.  Louis  Veuillot  seconded  this 
proposal  in  the  Univers  in  an  article  full  of  the  coarsest 
vilification  of  all  possible  opponents. 

The  papal  bull  of  convocation,  ^terni  Patris  {]wr\Q  29, 
1868),  had  given  no  clue  to  the  questions  which  it  was 
proposed  to  submit  to  the  council.  According  to  this 
bull,  the  purpose  was  simply  the  salvation  of  the  Church 
and  of  society  from  threatening  calamities,  the  extirpa- 
tion of  modern  error,  and  the  destruction  of  the  enemies 
of  the  Church.     The  memorable  letters,  which  soon  fol- 

149 


1 50  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Cenhiry 

lowed,  addressed  to  the  oriental  bishops  (September  8, 
1868)  and  to  the  Protestants  (September  13,  1868),  made 
use  of  the  occasion  for  urging  their  subjection.  Even 
the  measures  of  preparation  for  the  council  itself  gave  no 
clue  as  to  whether  the  expectations  of  the  Jesuit  papers 
were  authorised  or  not. 

At  the  same  time,  the  character  of  those  in  whose  hands 
these  preparations  had  been  placed  was  very  significant. 
Count  Reisach  vv^as  first  made  president,  after  his  death 
Cardinal  de  Angelis  took  his  place.  Bishop  Fessler  was 
chosen  ofificial  secretary.  In  the  seven  special  commis- 
sions appointed  before  the  sitting  of  the  council,  there 
was  a  decided  predominance  of  the  element  to  whose  in- 
fluence the  proclamation  of  the  Syllabus  is  traceable. 
Bilio,  the  chief  author  of  the  Syllabus,  and  Perrone,  the 
violent  and  foul-mouthed  controversialist  against  Pro- 
testantism, played  an  important  part.  Other  Italian 
theologians  of  the  same  tendency  were  Spada,  Cordoni, 
Bertolini.  On  a  par  with  these  was  the  Frenchman 
Freppel  and  the  Belgian  Deschamps,  who  made  them- 
selves equally  prominent  by  their  immoderate  zeal.  The 
English  convert  Manning  and  his  countryman  Talbot 
had  also  long  been  known  as  violent  infallibilists.  Among 
German  theologians,  only  the  Jesuit  father,  Schrader, 
and  the  two  Wiirzburgers,  Hergenrother  and  Hettinger, 
occupied  positions  of  any  prominence.  The  most  emin- 
ent theologians  of  Catholic  Germany  were  at  first  entirely 
left  out.  Later  some  of  them  were  called  in,  but,  as  if  in 
mockery,  were  given  the  most  trivial  questions  of  form 
to  occupy  themselves  with :  Hefele  and  Alzog  with 
costumes  and  ceremonial,  Haneberg  with  the  rites  of 
oriental  monasteries. 

The  questions  to  be  submitted  to  the  council  were  made 
known  only  in  the  most  general  outlines.  The  seven 
commissions,  at  the  head  of  each  a  cardinal,  divided 
among  themselves  the  order  of  business,  the  ceremonial. 


The  First  Vatican  Council  1 5 1 

matters  of  ecclesiastical  politics,  missions,  the  orders, 
dogmatics,  and  discipline.  The  counsellors  whom  they 
called  in  were  by  a  special  oath  obligated  to  silence  con- 
cerning the  transactions.  No  knowledge  whatever  of 
these  preliminaries  was  given  to  the  foreign  bishops. 
On  the  other  hand,  everything  was  done  to  add  to  the 
outer  splendour  of  an  event  which  was  to  surpass  all 
former  spectacles.  To  this  purpose  there  was  even  pro- 
claimed the  indulgence  of  a  jubilee  (April  11,  1869). 

The  language  proceeding  from  the  Jesuit  press,  coupled 
with  the  official  silence  and  the  painful  feeling  of  uncer- 
tainty about  what  was  imminent,  called  forth  a  decided 
movement  among  Catholics,  especially  those  of  the  more 
advanced  countries.  The  character  of  this  movement 
is  explained  by  a  Church  historian  of  orthodox  submis- 
siveness,  who  says  that  "  in  Germany,  even  among  the 
most  faithful  and  highly  esteemed  Catholic  laymen,  ap- 
prehensions made  themselves  felt,  which  they  considered 
themselves  obliged  in  a  most  respectful  address  to  lay 
before  their  bishops. " 

The  German  bishops  thereupon  issued  the  first  pastoral 
from  Fulda,  which  was  intended  to  allay  these  apprehen- 
sions.    For, 

nevermore  will  or  can  a  general  council  declare  a  new  doc- 
trine which  is  not  contained  in  the  sacred  Scriptures  or  the 
apostolical  traditions.  Nevermore  will  a  general  council  pro- 
claim doctrines  which  are  in  opposition  to  the  rights  of  the 
state  and  of  its  magistrates,  which  without  necessity  set  them- 
selves at  variance  with  the  existing  conditions  and  the  needs 
of  the  present  time.  The  purpose  of  the  council  rather  can 
be  no  other  than  to  place  the  ancient  and  primitive  truth  in  a 
more  clear  light.  Just  as  unfounded  and  unjust  is  the  suspicion 
that  freedom  of  deliberation  will  be  curtailed  at  the  council. 

With  no  less  decision  did  the  most  highly  esteemed 
leaders  of   the    French    episcopacy  declare  themselves, 


152  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

Darboy  of  Paris  and  Dupanloup  of  Orleans  at  their  head. 
They  were  joined  by  Gratry,  Maret,  Montalembert,  in 
learned  expressions  of  opinion  full  of  deep  feeling.  In  a 
literary  production  of  the  first  order  "  Janus  "  placed  the 
claims  of  the  Papacy  in  the  light  of  its  own  history.  The 
work  of  "  Janus  "  was  by  indirect  indications  attributed 
to  DolHnger;  another  writing,  Co?isideratio7is  for  the 
Bishops  of  the  Council  Concerning  the  Questio7i  of  Papal 
Infallibility,  was  with  more  certainty  attributed  to  him. 

The  Voices  from  the  Catholic  Clucrch,  which  appeared 
during  the  year  of  the  council,  had  their  centre  in  Munich. 
Bonn  and  Breslau,  Tubingen  and  Fribourg  were  well 
known  as  faculties  of  old-Catholic  views.  Even  the 
leader  of  the  ultramontane  party  in  Switzerland,  Philipp 
Anton  von  Segesser,  protested,  "  on  the  eve  of  the 
council,"  energetically  against  the  "  so-called  papal 
system,  which  in  reality  is  nothing  but  the  translation 
of  the  Byzantine  theory  of  sovereignty  into  the  ecclesias- 
tical sphere,  and  against  the  effort  arising  from  this  theory 
to  transfer  the  doctrine  of  the  infallibility  of  the  Church 
in  matters  of  faith  to  the  person  of  the  pope,"  ;  "  For 
this  consecration  of  monarchical  absolutism  in  the  sphere 
of  the  Church  must  bring  the  Church  into  complete 
antagonism  with  the  whole  political  formation  of  the 
present  and  place  the  relations  between  Church  and. 
State  upon  the  basis  of  a  mutual  war  of  extermination.^ 

Neither  statesmen  nor  Protestants  could  therefore  com- 
plain of  any  lack  of  warning  voices  on  the  part  of  the 
most  competent  judges  in  Catholic  circles.  The  presid- 
ent of  the  Bavarian  ministry,  Prince  Hohenlohe,  brother 
of  the  cardinal,  made  himself  the  organ  of  those  earnest 
Catholics  who  recognised  the  inevitable  danger  to  the 
state  and  to  liberty  of  conscience ;  he  was  supported  by 
the  votes  of  the  theological  and  law  faculty  in  Munich. 
But  his  suggestion  of  common  measures  for  preven- 
tion (in  the  circular  of  April  9,    1869)  was  everywhere 


The  First  Vatican  Council  153 

considered  inopportune.  Bismarck  and  Beust  '  were  in 
remarkable  accord  in  the  answers  they  gave.  The  en- 
lightened liberals  met  Hohenlohe's  pessimistic  views  with 
derision.  Not  long  after,  as  a  reward  for  his  German 
patriotism,  he  was  overthrown  by  the  Bavarian  patriot 
party.  The  latter  was  warmly  seconded  in  this  work  of 
piety  by  the  chief  of  the  Lutheran  Church  of  Bavaria, 
Herr  von  Harless.  In  Paris  and  Rome  the  removal  of 
Hohenlohe  encouraged  the  opposite  party  to  advance 
with  increasing  boldness. 

Diplomacy,  which  by  this  time  had  become  inquisitive, 
was  quieted  with  the  assurance  given  by  Antonelli  that 
the  holy  see  would  not  "  propose  "  its  own  infallibility. 
The  pope  did,  indeed,  not  propose  it,  he  only  caused  it 
to  be  proposed.  But  in  the  application  of  the  means, 
which  Pius  personally  used  for  the  intimidation  of  op- 
ponents, nothing  was  left  unattempted,  from  friendly 
persuasion  to  angry  threat  and  brutal  force.  Those  that 
hesitated  he  scolded  as  sectarian  enemies  of  the  Church 
and  of  the  apostolic  see,  among  whom  the  only  difference 
was  that  some  might  be  more  the  slaves  of  princes,  some 
more  ignorant,  and  some  more  cowardly.  The  so-called 
liberal  Catholics  of  France  especially  gave  him  cause  for 
renewed  outbreaks  of  anger.  The  gentle  prince  of  peace 
did  not  even  hesitate  to  prohibit  the  mass  for  the  repose 
of  the  soul  of  Count  Montalembert,  who  died  during  the 
council. 

About  the  same  time,  the  German  Voices  from  the 
Catholic  Church  were  placed  upon  the  Index.  More  and 
more  manifest  became  the  decisive  influence  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Jesus.  Their  accustomed  arts  of  refined  crafti- 
ness and  cunning  intrigue  were  perhaps  never  exercised 
in  the  same  degree.  Ample  experience  had  taught  the 
prudent  fathers  to  understand  the  spirit  of  the  times. 
They  knew  that  a  momentary  excitement  would  not  last 

^  Chancellor  of  the  Austrian  empire. 


154  ^'^^  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

long  (this  had  been  the  experience  in  England  and  Hol- 
land at  the  institution  of  the  new  hierarchy,  and  every- 
where at  the  publication  of  the  Syllabus) ;  that  wise 
statesmen  would  soon  weary  of  ecclesiastical  affairs.  A 
no  less  clear  observer,  Dollinger,  came  in  the  year  1869  to 
the  same  conclusion,  namely,  that  there  would  be  no 
sudden  great  apostasy,  no  open  revolt  on  a  large  scale; 
all  would  remain  placid,  only  too  placid. 

After  the  council  had  been  opened  on  Pius'  favourite 
day,  the  8th  of  December  (1869),  there  came  to  light, 
one  by  one,  the  studied  measures  of  preparation  by 
which  the  predetermined  end  was  to  be  brought  about. 
Behind  the  scenes  all  had  been  set  in  order,  while  of  the 
fathers  of  the  council  themselves  those  that  were  not 
among  the  initiated  groped  in  the  dark.  The  very 
vessels  in  which  the  Holy  Ghost  was  to  dwell  were  dis- 
tributed in  the  most  remarkable  manner.  There  were 
y^'j  members  entitled  to  a  vote.  Out  of  these,  the  whole 
of  Germany  was  represented  by  fourteen  votes,  and 
among  these  were  Martin  of  Paderborn  and  Senestrey  of 
Regensburg,  almost  the  most  passionate  advocates  of  the 
papal  theory.  Of  Italian  votes,  which  were  at  the  certain 
disposition  of  the  pope,  there  were  276.  The  thirty  gen- 
erals of  orders  had,  contrary  to  all  usage,  received  the 
right  of  voting.  Besides  these,  there  were  1 19  bishops 
in  partibus  and  missionary  bishops,  who  almost  all  lived 
in  Rome  at  the  expense  of  the  pope.  For,  as  Alzog  said, 
"  Pope  Pius  IX.  had,  with  his  accustomed  considerate 
attention,  provided  suitable  lodgings  and  decent  susten- 
tation  for  the  prelates  of  small  means  coming  from  far." 
Of  their  theological  knowledge  the  most  incredible  stories 
were  soon  in  circulation  on  good  authority.  In  like  man- 
ner the  literary  status  of  the  eighty  Spanish  and  South 
American  bishops  excited  much  derision. 

But  even  among  the  minority,   although  it  far  out- 


The  First  Vatican  Council  155 

balanced  the  majority  in  moral,  theological,  and  official 
weight,  there  soon  appeared  serious  defects  of  knowledge 
and  greater  weakness  of  character.  Besides,  their  posi- 
tion was  from  the  beginning  weakened  by  the  servile  sub- 
mission to  the  pope  which  prompted  them  to  call  in 
question  less  the  truth  than  the  opportuneness  of  the 
Jesuit  dogma.  Still  we  must  be  just.  The  poor  bishops 
repeatedly  applied  to  their  governments  demanding 
whether,  in  case  of  continued  opposition,  they  might 
count  upon  governmental  support.  They  were  left  with- 
out answer.  This  is  asserted  especially  in  the  case  of 
Bishop  von  Ketteler  of  Mayence. 

To  intensify  the  disproportion  in  numerical  strength 
between  the  two  parties,  the  order  of  business  (proclaimed 
by  the  bull,  Miiltiplices  inter,  of  November  27,  1869)  was  / 
especially  designed  by  the  dispositions  it  made  to  prevent 
the  opposition  from  asserting  itself.  The  machinery 
did  the  service  required  of  it ;  one  cannot  help  feeling  that 
the  whole  thing  was  a  farce.  No  proposition  was  ad- 
mitted unless  it  had  the  sanction  of  a  deputation  ap- 
pointed by  the  pope.  The  distribution  of  the  members 
of  the  commissions  was  such  that  Alzog  naively  com- 
plains: "  The  constitution  of  the  dogmatic  commissions 
is  the  most  questionable  proceeding  in  the  human  activ- 
ity of  the  council."  The  presidents  of  the  special  con- 
gregations (committees)  were  nominated  by  the  pope. 
In  the  general  congregations  the  right  of  speech  might 
be  refused  to  any  member.  In  the  public  sessions  all 
discussion  was  excluded,  members  could  only  voto.  placet 
or  7ion  placet. 

The  rule  of  unanimity,  which  had  formerly  prevailed 
where  dogma  was  to  be  determined,  was  abrogated,  and 
a  simple  majority  was  required.  The  acoustic  arrange- 
ments in  the  hall  where  the  sessions  were  held  were  as  bad 
as  they  could  be.  The  demand  of  another  hall  was  re^ 
fused.     Even  the  use  of  the  stenographers'  reports  was 


156  The  Papacy  m  the  igth  Ccntztry 

denied  the  fathers  of  the  council.  When  one  of  them  (in 
the  first  general  congregation  of  December  loth)  com- 
plained of  the  proceedings  as  a  manifest  contravention  of 
the  Tridentine  decisions,  he  was  called  to  order  by  the 
president  with  the  assertion  that  this  matter  had  been  de- 
cided by  the  pope  and  was  not  submitted  to  the  council. 
On  the  14th  of  December  another  papal  law  was  com- 
municated, which  took  the  discussion  of  the  question  of 
censorship  out  of  the  hands  of  the  council.  But,  worst 
of  all,  the  propositions  themselves  (the  schemata)  were 
distributed  only  singly  and  piecemeal,  so  that  no  general 
survey  of  their  number  or  of  their  contents  was  possible. 

The  complaints  and  the  protests  of  the  fathers  against 
these  arbitrary  proceedings  had  no  other  effect  than  the 
change  of  some  unessential  details.  These  very  changes 
proved  in  the  end  to  be  rather  injurious  than  advantage- 
ous ;  in  place  of  viva-voce  addresses,  written  presentations 
were  now  demanded,  which  could,  without  attracting  at- 
tention, be  consigned  to  the  waste-paper  basket. 

In  short,  the  same  bishops  who  in  their  own  homes 
stood  above  the  officers  of  the  state  were  in  Rome  treated 
as  papal  lackeys.  One  of  them  complained  that  more 
decency  was  preserved  in  an  assembly  of  cobblers  than  in 
the  council.  But  even  this  expression  appears  mild  com- 
pared with  the  official  protest  of  the  bishops  of  the 
minority : 

We  consider  it  no  longer  compatible  with  our  episcopal  dig- 
nity, with  our  official  position  in  the  council,  and  with  the 
rights  which  belong  to  us  as  members  of  the  council,  to  prefer 
any  requests,  after  our  experience  has  fully  taught  us  that 
not  only  are  our  requests  not  considered,  but  that  they  are 
not  even  thought  worthy  of  an  answer.  There  is  nothing  left 
us  but  to  raise  our  protest  against  a  proceeding  which  appears 
to  us  equally  injurious  to  the  Church  and  to  the  apostolic  see, 
that  in  so  doing  we  may  repudiate  the  responsibility  for  any 
possible  evil  consequences  as  well  before  men  as  before  the 


The  First  Vatican  Council  157 

judgment  of  God.     To  this  end  may  this  declaration  be  for 
ever  a  witness. 


Not  until  the  machinery  had  been  put  fairly  in  motion 
was  the  purpose  of  the  Avhole  proceeding,  hitherto  kept 
a  secret,  gradually  made  known.  The  first  two  public 
sessions  were  consumed  with  formalities;  the  first  with 
the  opening  ceremonies,  the  second  with  the  confession 
of  the  faith  (January  6,  1870).  Immediately  after  this, 
however  (beginning  of  January,  1870),  a  proposition  for 
the  proclaination  of  the  infallibility  was  set  in  circulation 
and  signatures  to  it  collected.  At  the  same  time  agita- 
tion was  begun  in  the  press  (the  Civilth  and  Unita  Cat- 
tolica  in  Rome,  Univers  and  Monde  in  Paris,  Tablet  in 
London,  etc.).  Pius  IX.  presently  issued  briefs  in 
praise  of  the  agitators  (f.  i.,  to  Guferanger,  the  abbot  of 
Solesmes). 

The  minority  in  opposition  were  now  roused  to  activity. 
And  however  fruitless  their  efforts  were,  historical  interest 
in  the  proceedings  of  the  council  will  always  turn  atten- 
tively to  these  as  the  most  important  witnesses  for 
Catholicism  against  Papalism. 

In  opposition  to  an  address  which  issued  from  the  Col- 
lege of  Jesuits  in  favour  of  the  dogma,  a  counter-address 
was  set  in  motion  which  implored  the  pope  not  to  listen 
to  the  former.  The  most  eminent  bishops  of  Germany, 
Austria,  and  France,  whose  dioceses  in  number  of  souls 
far  surpassed  those  of  the  infallibilists,  had  placed  them- 
selves at  the  head  of  this  movement.  These  were  the 
very  men  who  in  their  own  countries  were  known  as  the 
first  champions  of  clerical  pretensions.  After  the  council 
they  all  made  "  the  sacrifice  of  the  reason,"  as  one  of 
them  called  it,  and  forced  their  subordinate  clergy  to 
render  obedience  to  the  now  divinely  revealed  dogma. 

The  following  were  leaders  of  the  opposition  in  the 
council :  Rauscher  (Vienna)  and  Schwarzenberg  (Prague), 


158  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

Melchers  (Cologne)  and  Forster  (Breslau),  Ketteler  (May- 
ence)  and  Scherr  (Munich),  Darboy  (Paris)  and  Dupan- 
loup  (Orleans).  The  most  learned  opponent  of  the  new 
dogma,  who  knew  it  to  be  irreconcilable  with  the  history 
of  the  Papacy,  was  Bishop  Hefele  of  Rottenburg,  in 
Wiirtemberg ;  for  no  man  understood  better  than  he  the 
question  of  the  heretical  pope,  Honorius  I.*  The  most 
open  and  pugnacious  enemy  was  the  bishop  of  Croatia, 
Strossmayer. 

The  greatest  surprise,  however,  was  occasioned  by  the 
opposition  of  the  bishop  of  Mayence,  whom  his  diocese 
knew  above  all  as  the  enthusiastic  patron  of  the  Jesuits. 
In  Rome,  Bishop  Ketteler  had  circulated  a  special  pam- 
phlet against  the  dogma.  After  all  other  attempts  to 
move  the  pope  had  proved  futile,  he  went  so  far  in  an 
audience  on  July  15,  1870,  as  to  go  down  on  his  knees  three 
times  before  the  pope  and  to  entreat  him  not  to  throw  the 
Church  into  such  danger.  Pius  declared  to  him  at  the 
time  that  the  matter  had  gone  too  far  to  allow  of  any 
change  being  made.  This  happened  on  the  same  day 
on  which  there  was  incorporated  in  the  language  of  the 
formula  of  infallibility  the  passage  which  has  given  to  it 
its  thoroughly  revolutionary  meaning. 

The  disposition  prevailing  among  the  bishops  of  the 
opposition  forms  one  of  the  most  interesting  phases  in 
the  history  of  the  council.  Long  they  refused  to  believe 
the  incredible.  Then  we  see  them  wandering  to  and  fro 
like  a  flock  of  sheep  which  feel  the  nearness  of  the  wolf. 
They  cherish  now  this,  now  that  hope.  And  all  the 
while  the  Jesuit  machinery  was  going  its  undisturbed 
course ;  all  necessary  measures  had  been  taken. 

The  pope,  who  when  he  was  plain  Abbot  Ferretti  had 
believed  in  the  infallibility,  was  now  penetrated  with  the 
idea.     He  met  a  reference  to  ancient  tradition  with  the 

'  Died  638,  anathematised  by  name  as  a  Monothelite  heretic  by  the  Coun- 
cil of  Constantinople  in  680. 


The  First  Vatican  Cozmcil 


159 


answer:  ''La  tradizione  son'  io"  {"  I  am  the  tradition  "). 
In  return  for  the  loss  of  their  former  independence  to- 
ward the  pope,  the  bishops  were  promised  so  much  more 
power  in  their  jurisdiction  over  the  lower  clergy.  This 
object  was  accomplished  by  the  schema  concerning  the 
life  and  ofificial  duties  of  the  lower  clergy,  which  con- 
tained surprising  information  concerning  the  morality  of 
the  latter.  ^  Such  were  the  bribes  which  were  offered  to 
the  bishops ;  it  was  an  intensification  of  absolutism  from 
grade  to  grade. 

The  course  of  affairs  was  predetermined,  and  the  only 
question  was  concerning  the  manner  in  which  the  new 
dogma  should  be  introduced  into  the  ancient  doctrine  of 
the  Church.  The  second  of  the  so-called  dogmatic 
schemata  gave  the  opportunity.  The  schemata  of  disci- 
pline, laid  before  the  council  together  with  the  others, 
treated  of  practical  ecclesiastical  questions  (among  them, 
the  question  of  a  new  uniform  catechism).  The  first 
dogmatic  scJieina  was  devoted  to  a  condemnation  of 
"  Rationalism."  The  second  dogmatic  schema  treated 
in  fifteen  chapters  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  The  second 
part  of  this  schema  was  devoted  to  the  primacy  of  the 
pope;  in  the  original  document,  however,  it  contained 
no  word  about  his  infallibility. 

The  fathers  of  the  council  were  given  but  the  shortest 
time  to  sanction  this  schema,  which  was  not  communi- 
cated to  them  until  they  had  arrived  in  Rome.  For  the 
first  ten  chapters  they  were  allowed  ten  days  (till  March 
4th).  And  yet  in  this  time  120  written  proposals  con- 
cerning these  chapters  were  handed  in. 

When,  on  the  6th  of  March,  the  second  part,  concern- 
ing the  primacy  of  the  pope,  was  to  be  taken  up,  it  was 
found  that  there  had  been  inserted  between  the  eleventh 
and  twelfth  chapters  the  sentence:  "  Romanum  pontifi- 
cem  in  rebus  fidei  et  morum  definiendis  errare  non  posse. " 


i6o  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Ce7it2C7y 

This  newly  proposed  all-important  question  was  given  ten 
days  for  consideration,  and  it  was  only  through  a  determ- 
ined effort  that  the  limit  was  extended  to  the  25th  of 
March.  In  spite  of  the  short  space  of  time,  some  150 
written  remonstrances  were  handed  in. 

The  bishops  of  the  opposition  also  brought  before  the 
council  new  considerations  of  great  importance,  in  which 
(besides  the  numerous  dogmatic  objections)  special  refer- 
ence was  made  to  the  change  in  the  relation  to  the  state 
which  would  follow  from  the  dogma,  in  which  attention 
was  also  called  to  the  declaration  made  by  the  Irish 
bishops  before  the  Catholic  emancipation,'  But  all  these 
efforts  were  without  effect.  A  majority  had  been  secured 
for  the  dogma,  and  the  pope  followed  the  principle  that 
majority  makes  authority. 

Thus  was  inaugurated  the  so-called  general  debate 
upon  the  fundamentally  altered  second  part  of  the  dog- 
matic schema,  entitled  "  Constitutio  dogmatica  de  ecclesia 
Christi."  It  lasted  from  May  14th  to  June  3d,  in  four- 
teen general  congregations.^  Then,  although  forty  an- 
nounced speakers  had  had  no  opportunity  of  speaking, 
a  motion  was  made  to  close  the  general  debate.  Again 
it  was  to  no  purpose  that  eighty-one  bishops  protested ; 
they  were  simply  voted  down,  and  on  the  6th  of  June 
the  council  proceeded  to  the  special  debate. 

The  first  three  of  the  chapters  now  under  debate  (of 
the  institution  of  the  apostolical  primacy  in  St.  Peter,  of 
its  continuance  in  the  Roman  popes,  of  the  nature  and 

1  The  Irish  bishops  had  declared  that  the  infallibility  of  the  pope  was  not 
in  harmony  with  Catholic  doctrine.  This  declaration  made  possible  the 
passing  of  the  Catholic  emancipation  bill  by  the  English  Parliament  in 
1829. 

*  All  propositions  were  first  considered  in  one  of  the  standing  committees  ; 
then  in  a  "  general  congregation  "  where  they  were  discussed  in  "  general  " 
and  "special"  debate.  If  accepted,  they  were  proclaimed  in  a  public 
assembly.  After  the  reading  of  the  decree  in  the  public  assembly,  the  last 
vote  was  taken.     The  pope  might  then  either  give  or  refuse  his  sanction. 


TJie  First  Vatican  Co2iiicil  i6i 

character  of  the  primacy  of  the  Roman  pope)  consumed 
the  time  until  the  14th  of  June. 

The  special  debate  on  the  fourth  and  last  chapter,  con- 
cerning the  infallibility,  lasted  from  June  15th  to  July 
4th.  The  speakers  in  opposition  were  during  its  course 
frequently  interrupted  and  forced  to  silence  by  loud  ex- 
pressions of  displeasure  and  impatience. 

After  hurried  consultation  in  commission,  the  council 
proceeded  on  the  13th  of  July  to  the  vote.  There  were 
present  601  fathers  of  the  council.  Of  these,  88  voted 
non  placet,  62  placet  juxta  viodiun  (conditionally),  451 
placet.  Once  more,  apparently  out  of  consideration  for 
the  scruples  of  the  middle  group,  the  question  was  re- 
ferred to  the  commission.  On  the  i6th  of  July  their 
report  was  made. 

It  was  not  until  this  stage  of  the  proceedings  that  the 
additional  clause,  spoken  of  above,  was  inserted,  which 
has  given  to  the  dogma  its  revolutionary  significance: 
"  Romani  pontificis  definitiones  esse  ex  sese,  non  autem 
ex  consensu  ecclesi?e,  irreformabiles. "  Not  only  in  and 
by  themselves,  but  with  explicit  exclusion  of  the  agree- 
ment of  the  Church,  the  papal  decrees  became  thereby 
"  incapable  of  reform."  The  majority  did  not  refuse  to 
accept  even  this.' 

In  such  manner,  immediately  before  the  fourth  public 
session  of  July  iSth,  was  the  vessel  brought  into  port, 

1  The  infallibility  is  decreed  in  these  words  :  "  Sacro  approbante  Concilio 
docemus  et  divinitus  revelatum  dogma  esse  definimus  :  Romanum  Pontifi- 
cem,  cum  ex  cathedra  loquitur,  id  est,  cum  omnium  Christianorum  Pastoris 
et  doctoris  munere  fungens  pro  suprema  sua  apostolica  autoritate  doctrinam 
de  fide  vel  moribus  ab  universa  Ecclesia  tenendam  definit,  per  assistentiam 
divinam,  ipsi  in  beato  Petro  promissam,  ea  infallibilitate  pollere,  qua  di- 
vinus  Redemptor  Ecclesiam  suam  in  definienda  doctrina  de  fide  vel  moribus 
instructam  esse  voluit ;  ideoque  ejusmodo  Romani  pontificis  definitiones 
esse  ex  sese,  non  autem  ex  consensu  ecclesias,  irreformabiles.  Si  quis  autem 
huic  nostras  definitioni  contradicere,  quod  deus  avertat,  praesumpserit — 
anathema  sit," 


1 62  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

This  public  session  itself  had  no  other  than  formal  signi- 
ficance. But  the  bishops  of  the  minority  did  not  even 
attend  it.  By  a  written  representation  of  the  day  before, 
they  confirmed  and  renewed  the  expression  of  opinion 
given  in  the  general  congregation ;  but  at  the  same  time 
they  declared  that  their  filial  piety  and  devotion  towards 
the  holy  father  did  not  permit  them,  in  a  matter  that 
touched  his  person  so  closely,  publicly  and  in  his  presence 
to  vote  non  placet.  And  so  there  were  only  635  voting 
members  present,  of  whom  only  two  voted  No.'  And 
without  fear  of  further  opposition  Pius  IX.  could  pro- 
claim the  bull.  Pastor  ceternus.  A  violent  storm  at  the 
time  shook  the  cupola  of  St.  Peter's.  On  the  following 
day  came  the  declaration  of  war  by  France  against 
Prussia. 

•  These  two  were  the  American  bishop  Fitzgerald  of  Little  Rock,  Arkan» 
sas,  and  the  Sicilian  bishop  Riccio. 


CHAPTER  XII 


PIUS   IX.    IN   THE   INTERNATIONAL       KULTURKAMPF 


THE  ecclesiastico-political  plans  of  the  Jesuits  had 
been  long  prepared,  and  the  pope  was  more  and 
more  dominated  by  the  order.  The  i8th  and  19th  of 
July,  1870,  witnessed  the  realisation  of  these  plans.  The 
proclamation  of  the  new  dogma  was  to  coincide  with  the 
victory  of  Roman  Catholic  France,  in  order  to  establish- 
the  Papacy  in  the  full  possession  of  its  new  autocracy.. 
So  the  Jesuits  calculated,  and  no  such  comprehensive 
plans  had  ever  been  made  except  when  Philip  II.  of 
Spain,  the  emperor  Ferdinand  II.,  and  Louis  XIV.  of 
France  undertook  to  establish  uniformity  of  belief. 

The  influences  which  prompted  the  Empress  Eugenie, 
in  spite  of  the  hesitation  of  her  sick  husband,  to  fan  the 
flames  of  war  ("  her  little  war,"  as  she  called  it)  are 
noticed  even  in  the  work  of  the  Prussian  general  staff, 
which  otherwise,  in  all  questions  of  a  non-military  nature, 
preserves  the  utmost  reticence.  The  Jesuit  keepers  of 
the  empress's  conscience  received  their  directions  from 
the  same  Jesuit  college  at  Rome  in  which  the  addresses 
in  favour  of  the  new  dogma  had  been  set  up  and  the 
further  acts  of  the  council  comedy  had  been  prepared. 
As  soon  as  the  last  difficulties  which  had  stood  in  the 
way  of  the  proclamation  of  papal  absolutism  had  been  set 
aside,   Benedetti,  the  French  ambassador,  received  the 

163 


164  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

order  for  the  insulting  demand  upon  the  king  of  Prussia 
which  he  made  at  Ems. 

But,  however  masterly  the  manner  in  which  the  threads 
had  been  spun,  the  unexpected  issue  of  the  great  war 
was  destined  once  more  to  upset  the  calculations  of  the 
pious  fathers,  just  as  had  been  the  case  with  other  revo- 
lutions in  which  they  had  played  an  active  part, — that  of 
Don  Carlos  in  Spain  and  of  Don  Miguel  in  Portugal,  the 
Swiss  war  of  the  Sonderbund,  and  the  seven  days'  cam- 
paign of  1866.  The  bravery  and  the  discipline  of  the 
German  army,  for  the  first  time  feeling  itself  united,  tore 
in  pieces  the  network  woven  with  so  much  astuteness. 

Indeed,  the  result  of  the  war,  so  frivolously  set  on 
foot,  was  not  only  the  unification  of  Germany  and  the 
overthrow  of  the  Napoleonic  empire,  but  also  the  libera- 
tion of  Rome  from  priestly  misrule.  On  the  3d  of  Sep- 
tember, 1870,  at  Sedan,  were  fulfilled  the  most  daring 
predictions  of  German  seers.  On  the  20th  of  September 
the  Italians  at  last  entered  their  capital,  amid  the  ac- 
clamations of  the  people.  When  the  pope  again  hurled 
his  savage  anathemas  against  a  united  people,  he  was 
simply  reminded  that  the  truth  of  the  old  story  of  the 
fall  of  man  had  been  once  more  confirmed.  It  was  said 
among  the  Italians  that  the  holy  father  had  yielded  to 
the  voice  of  the  tempter  to  make  himself  equal  to  God ; 
but  on  the  very  day  that  he  had  eaten  of  the  forbidden 
fruit  his  papal  monarchy  had  fallen  a  prey  to  death.  The 
declaration  of  war,  connected  as  it  was  with  the  dogma 
of  infallibility,  was  immediately  followed  by  the  with- 
drawal of  the  French  troops  from  the  states  of  the 
Church,  and  as  soon  as  foreign  bayonets  ceased  to  be  at 
their  disposition  the  rule  of  the  priests  was  doomed  to  an 
ignominious  collapse. 

Although  the  political  consequences  were  the  reverse 
of  what  the  papal  Curia  had  hoped,  their  expectations 
were   fully  realised   in    the  ecclesiastical  sphere.      Here 


The  letter  7iational  ''  Kulturkanipf'         165 

they  had  wisely  calculated  that  amid  the  storms  and  hor- 
rors of  war  the  new  dogma  would  make  its  way  un- 
noticed ;  and  they  reaped  the  fruits  of  their  calculations. 
The  shrunken  council  was  adjourned  on  the  20th  of 
October,  1870,  without  bringing  to  an  issue  the  questions 
of  discipline  or  the  catechism.  But  what  interest  was 
there  in  these  secondary  questions,  when  the  main  object, 
the  overthrow  of  the  ancient  constitution  of  the  Church, 
had  been  carried  against  all  opposition  ? 

It  now  appeared  very  clearly  how  untenable  had  been 
the  position  of  the  bishops  of  the  opposition.  They  were 
not  satisfied  with  a  speedy  subjection  for  themselves ;  but, 
where  their  subordinates  were  not  capable  of  the  same 
feat  of  instantly  reversing  their  convictions,  they  sought 
to  bring  them  to  it  by  force.  As  concerns  the  prelates 
of  France :  the  fact  that  their  patriotism  interfered  with 
their  opposition  to  the  new  dogma  may  be  attributed  to 
the  distress  of  their  humiliated  country;  their  leader, 
Darboy,  was  soon  enough  to  meet  the  same  end  as  his 
immediate  predecessors,  Sibour  and  Affre.  But  this  ex- 
cuse is  wanting  to  the  German  bishops,  who,  in  August, 
1870,  again  met  in  Fulda  and  issued  from  the  grave  of 
St.  Boniface  a  second  pastoral  letter,  which  stood  in  the 
most  pronounced  contrast  to  the  former  epistle.^ 

The  BreacJi  of  fait  Ji  and  lack  of  veracity  of  the  German 
Bishops  is  not  only  inscribed  on  the  title-page  of  a  con- 
temporary pamphlet,  but  is  deeply  engraven  on  the  hearts 
of  the  people.  The  same  gentlemen  who  before  had 
given  the  assurance  that  the  council  would  proclaim  no 
new  dogma  now  declared  that  all  true  Catholics  were 
bound  for  the  salvation  of  their  souls  to  submit  them- 
selves unconditionally  to  the  unanimous  decrees  of  the 
council,  which  were  in  no  wise  impaired  by  the  differences 
of  opinion  that  had  appeared  during  the  deliberations. 

Even  more  contemptible  seem  to  us  the  devices  by 
^  See  page  151. 


1 66  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  CenhLry 

means  of  which  the  dogma  of  the  infallibility  (as  a  few 
years  before  was  done  with  the  Syllabus)  was  construed 
to  yield  a  meaning  foreign  to  its  intention.  These  mis- 
interpretations were,  moreover,  contrary  to  the  express 
personal  declarations  of  the  pope. 

Not  one  of  all  the  bishops  who  in  the  council  opposed 
the  dogma  remained  true  to  his  convictions.  To  be 
sure,  they  had  the  same  excuse  then  as  for  their  vacillat- 
ing conduct  during  the  council:  they  not  only  lacked  all 
support  from  their  governments,  but  the  latter  even 
urged  them  to  submission.  The  sacrificio  dell'  intelletto 
of  Bishop  Hefele  is  traceable  directly  to  the  intervention 
of  the  court  of  Wiirtemberg. 

In  some  places  formal  steps  were  taken  against  the 
proclamation  of  the  dogma.  Austria  suspended  the  con- 
cordat, Bavaria  refused  the  placet  to  the  papal  bull,  several 
of  the  smaller  states  declared  themselves  unable  to  sanc- 
tion the  ecclesiastical  innovation.  But  nothing  was 
gained  with  these  formalities.  Although  the  other  gov- 
ernments did  not  with  the  same  brutal  frankness  consti- 
tute themselves  the  beadle  of  the  Curia  as  did  the  ministry 
of  von  Miihler  in  Prussia,  which  gave  its  aid  to  Arch- 
bishop Melchers  for  the  expulsion  from  his  parish  of 
pastor  Tangermann,  who  opposed  the  dogma,  yet  no- 
where was  there  a  suggestion  of  any  common  consistent 
action. 

In  the  meantime  the  wisdom  of  liberal  journalism  made 
fun  of  the  dogma,  but  the  patrician  circles  as  well  as  the 
lowest  classes  of  the  populace  were  better  disciplined,  and 
the  numerous  clerical  associations  and  corporations  proved 
more  powerful  than  the  conscientious  scruples  of  the 
learned. 

While  the  German  troops  were  in  the  field  against  the 
foreign  enemy,  the  bishops,  submissive  to  the  pope,  pro- 
nounced excommunication  upon  those  who  remained 
true  to  their  ancient  faith.     Like  rocks  in  the  raging  sea 


The  In ternatio7ial  '  *  Kulturkampf  "         167 

they  stood  at  their  isolated  posts  ;  foremost  among 
them,  Dollinger.  The  sacrifice  which  these  enthusiastic 
representatives  of  the  Catholic  Church  ideal  made  for 
their  faith  has  never  been  appreciated  at  its  full  value  by 
Protestants. 

The  case  of  the  Bavarian  congregation  of  Mering,  with 
its  brave  pastor  Renftle,  is  proof  that,  if  the  Catholic 
congregations  had  had  other  leaders,  a  large  majority 
would  have  remained  faithful  to  the  old  Catholicism. 
But  an  isolated  parish  like  this  in  Bavaria  had  so  much 
to  suffer  from  the  fanatics  that  surrounded  it,  that  only  a 
firm  and  well-defined  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  state 
would  have  availed  to  assure  its  existence.  The  states, 
however,  did  not  take  up  the  battle  which  was  forced 
upon  them  until  it  was  too  late,  and  even  then  they  op- 
posed to  the  unyielding  and  consistent  attitude  of  the 
Curia  the  inadequate  sophistical  arts  of  advocates.  The 
long  series  of  disorders  which  are  comprehended  under 
the  m.vaQ  Kulturkampf  csinnot  be  too  clearly  distinguished 
from  the  religious  opposition  to  a  dogma  which  stood  in 
direct  contradiction  to  the  essence  of  all  religion. 

We  shall  in  the  following  pages  attempt  to  represent 
the  connection  between  these  conflicts  as  we  trace  them 
in  the  several  countries,  and  their  common  centre.  A 
detailed  account  would  exceed  the  limits  of  this  work. 
Not,  indeed,  for  the  reason  often  given,  that  the  de- 
velopment in  whose  midst  we  stand  is  not  ripe  for  his- 
torical representation.  Behind  this  argument  there  too 
frequently  lurks  a  certain  prudence,  or  rather  moral 
cowardice,  which  fears  to  give  offence  to  those  in  power. 
The  independent  historian  is  bound  to  keep  himself  free 
from  such  considerations,  as  well  as  from  any  considera- 
tion of  service  to  sect  or  party.  But  a  full  history  of  the 
Kulturkampf  would  call  for  first-hand  testimony  from 
both  sides,  and  this  task  does  not  come  within  the  sphere 


1 68  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centtiry 

of  this  work.  We  can  only  expect  to  draw  correctly  the 
lines  which  mark  the  more  and  more  intensified  struggle 
between  Catholicism  and  Papalism.  To  this  end  it  will 
be  necessary  to  call  attention  to  certain  events  of  the  last 
period  of  Pius  IX.  and  to  the  inheritance  which  he  be- 
queathed to  his  successor. 

The  sum  and  substance  of  these  events  and  this  inherit- 
ance may  be  expressed  in  one  word :  it  was  war  against 
modern  society.  The  absolutistic  coup  d'dtat  which  over- 
threw the  constitution  of  the  Church  changed  the  relation 
of  the  state  to  the  Church  into  a  condition  of  perpetual 
war,  which  might  be  interrupted  by  a  shorter  or  a  longer 
period  of  truce,  but  which  must  necessarily  break  out 
again  and  again. 

The  accustomed  predilection  of  politicians  for  allowing 
themselves  to  be  deluded  by  the  Curia  has  not  been 
lessened  since  the  Vatican  Council,  and  it  only  required  a 
few  diplomatic  courtesies  from  the  successor  of  Pius  IX. 
to  throw  into  oblivion  even  the  infallible  bull,  Unain 
Sanctani,^  with  its  consequences  as  they  affect  the  state. 
But  Pius  did  not  descend  to  courtesies,  and  the  remainder 
of  his  reign  was  taken  up  with  anathemas  against  modern 
unbelief,  which  refused  to  subject  itself  to  the  infallible 
oracle  of  the  Vatican,  and  with  abuse  of  the  leaders  of 
the  state  and  of  popular  representation  in  the  several 
states.     No  single  state  was  spared  in  this  war  against  all. 

The  most  irreconcilable  of  these  struggles,  although  ap- 
parently it  was  not  connected  with  religious  affairs,  was 
that  of  the  Curia  with  the  Italian  people.  On  the  20th 
of  September,  1870,  the  Italian  troops  had  entered  Rome,^ 
greeted  this  time  with  the  unmistakable  acclamations  of 
the  populace.  The  result  of  the  popular  vote  in  the  city 
of  Rome  for  annexation  to  Italy  was  over  40,000  Yeas  to 

'  The  bull  which  marks  the  height  of  the  papal  pretensions,  A.D,  1302. 
See  page  86,  note  i. 

*  In  consequence  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  French  troops. 


The  International  ''  Kulttirkampf"         169 

something  more  than  40  Noes,  and  the  relative  proportion 
was  the  same  in  the  rest  of  the  hitherto  papal  territory. 
Thereupon  King  Victor  Emmanuel  issued  the  decree  of 
the  incorporation  of  Rome  with  the  national  state.  Gari- 
baldi's wish  was  fulfilled :  Rome  was  the  capital  of  a  united 
Italy. 

Although  this  was  the  end  of  the  temporal  sovereignty 
of  the  pope,  the  Italian  government  presently  gave  the 
clearest  proof  that  it  intended  no  diminution  of  his 
spiritual  claims,  rather  that  it  would  in  every  way  protect 
and  increase  them.  The  guarantee  laws  of  1871  gave  the 
pope  not  only  for  all  time  the  rights  and  honours  of  a 
sovereign  and  a  dotation  which  surpassed  the  amount  of 
his  former  income,  but  offered  at  the  same  time  full 
liberty  for  the  exercise  of  his  ecclesiastical  sovereignty 
and  entire  renunciation  on  the  part  of  the  state  of  the 
royal  placet  and  of  any  claim  to  co-operation  in  the  in- 
vestiture of  bishoprics  and  of  benefices.  Cavour's  watch- 
word of  "a  free  Church  in  a  free  State "  was  thus 
realised,  and  indeed  the  state  suffered  the  most  decided 
limitations  in  its  own  proper  sphere.  At  the  same  time 
the  pope  was  so  much  more  protected  than  formerly  in 
his  struggles  with  foreign  powers,  that  nobody  could  now 
get  at  him  to  do  him  harm,  so  that  very  soon  the  official 
German  press  accused  the  Italian  guarantee  laws  of 
making  the  pope  impossible  of  attack  by  means  of  these 
defences.  But  not  long  after  the  same  official  press  main- 
tained the  defence  of  the  pope  against  Italy ;  this  was  in 
payment  for  the  help  which  had  been  given  in  putting 
through  the  law  for  the  monopoly  of  tobacco  in  Germany. 

The  oppositions  and  jealousies  of  the  several  states 
were  in  fact  much  more  advantageous  to  the  Papacy  now 
that  it  was  no  longer  tied  down  by  its  own  temporal 
sovereignty.  The  pope  was  sure  of  French  sympathy  in 
his  war  with  Germany,  and  of  German  sympathy  in  his 
war  with  France.     For  the  moral  power  of  future  popes 


1 70  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centttiy 

no  moment  was  indeed  more  favourable  than  that  in 
which  the  ItaHan  soldiers  entered  through  the  breach  in 
the  Porta  Pia,  and  thereby  sundered  the  fetters  by  which 
the  universal  spiritual  dominion  was  bound  to  the  local 
temporal  sovereignty.  But  no  man  recognised  this  less 
than  did  Pius  IX.  The  Jesuit  father,  Curci,  showed  a 
clearer  sight,  but  he  received  for  it  an  ill  reward. 

Pius  declared  the  incorporation  of  Rome  with  Italy  to 
be  a  robbing  of  God  Himself,  The  Italian  government 
he  would  call  nothing  but  the  "  subalpine  government." 
No  year  passed  without  protests  against  its  evil  deeds. 
The  guarantee  laws  were  spurned  as  a  fraud,  a  deceit,  as 
an  insult  to  the  holy  apostles  Peter  and  Paul. 

Among  numerous  similar  demonstrations  we  notice 
especially  the  elevation  of  the  holy  "foster-father" 
Joseph  to  the  position  of  patron-saint  of  the  Church  and 
the  solemn  consecration  of  the  whole  world  to  the  Sacred 
Heart  of  Jesus.  The  pompous  celebration  at  the  twenty- 
fifth  jubilee  of  the  pope's  accession  and  the  fiftieth  of  his 
consecration  as  bishop,  and  those  on  his  birthdays  were 
used  for  similar  agitations.  In  place  of  the  dotation, 
which  year  by  year  was  refused,  there  were  collected  in 
all  countries  uncounted  millions  in  the  shape  of  Peter's 
pence  for  the  poor  captive  in  the  Vatican.  His  fictitious 
captivity  was  compared  with  the  sufferings  of  Him  who 
had  not  where  to  lay  His  head.  The  several  events  of  the 
passion  even  were  applied  to  the  Christ,  who  was  again 
crucified  in  the  person  of  the  pope.  Noble  Parisian  ladies 
gave  the  pope  a  golden  crown  of  thorns,  which  he  gra- 
ciously accepted.  In  Belgium  there  were  sold,  among 
the  poor,  wisps  of  straw  from  his  prison,  and  photographs 
in  which  the  pope  appeared  imprisoned  behind  iron  bars. 

But  the  passionate  struggle  which  Pius  waged  against 
his  own  people  was  surpassed  in  importance  by  the  war 
against  the  young  German  empire.    In  Italy,  in  spite  of  all 


The  Intei'natio7ial '  *  Kulturkampf  "         171 

the  bitterness  of  opposing  principles,  there  were  not  want- 
ing ecclesiastics  who  identified  themselves  with  the  in- 
terests of  the  people.  The  northern  barbarians,  on  the 
other  hand,  had  not  only  to  contend  with  the  grasping 
ambition  of  a  Gregory  VII. ,  but  the  story  of  the  mediaeval 
Papacy  in  its  opposition  to  the  Salic,  the  Hohenstaufen, 
and  the  Bavarian  dynasties  was  repeated.  The  Church 
became  the  enemy  of  the  state,  and  the  wedge  of  internal 
self-dismemberment  was  driven  into  the  nation  which  had 
only  just  been  externally  united. 

The  far-sighted  policy  of  the  Jesuits,  by  which  the  pro- 
clamation of  the  new  dogma  and  the  breaking  out  of  the 
war  with  France  were  to  take  place  at  the  same  moment, 
has  approved  itself  especially  with  regard  to  Germany. 
The  war  drew  the  attention  of  the  governments  and  of 
the  people  from  what  was  happening  in  the  Church. 
Prince  Bismarck  is  known  to  have  said  that  after  the 
French  war  he  was  surprised  by  the  mobilisation  of  the 
clerical  party.  The  Prussian  state  officials  had  given 
almost  no  thought  to  the  dogma  and  its  significance. 
The  warnings  of  Prince  Hohenlohe  '  were  coolly  repudi- 
ated in  Berlin,  and  had  no  other  consequence  than  the 
fall  of  the  clear-sighted  Bavarian  minister.  When  Count 
Harry  Arnim,  the  Prussian  ambassador  in  Rome,  having 
been  converted  from  his  former  disparagement  of  the 
inner-Catholic  movement,  pointed  out  the  consequences 
of  the  dogma  as  it  affected  the  state,  he  found  the  poli- 
tics of  Berlin  occupied  with  quite  different  cares.  But 
the  unexpected  victories  of  the  German  army  brought  in 
their  train  the  liberation  of  Rome  from  the  papal  yoke. 
Thereupon  deputations,  first  of  the  bishops,  then  of  the 
laity,  demanded  at  Versailles  the  interference  of  the 
German  empire  in  behalf  of  the  restoration  of  the  tem- 
poral power  of  the  pope — that  is,  war  against  Italy  in 
addition  to  that   against    France.     It  was  the  negative 

'  See  page  152. 


172  The  Papacy  in  the  igtJi  Century 

answer  to  this  demand  that  led  to  the  formation  of  the 
party  of  the  Centre,  the  centre  namely  of  all  parties  op- 
posed to  the  German  empire  newly  born  on  the  i8th  of 
January,  1871. 

The  contradictory  principles,  whose  operation  determ- 
ined the  future  political  and  ecclesiastical  history  of  the 
new  empire,  now  stood  clearly  defined  one  against  the 
other.  The  war  between  State  and  Church  was  inaugu- 
rated. But  while  on  the  clerical  side  both  object  and 
means  were  clearly  understood,  the  state  took  hold  of  the 
affair  at  the  wrong  end,  and  the  means  applied  all  bear 
the  character  of  incompetence  and  impracticability.  In 
order  to  understand  the  future  triumphs  of  the  papal 
policy,  we  must  here  recall  the  principal  mistakes  of  its 
opponents. 

If  we  compare  the  so-called  Kultiirkanipf  m  Germany 
with  the  former  ecclesiastico-political  struggles  of  the 
century,  we  can  draw  only  one  conclusion :  all  the  teach- 
ings of  history  concerning  the  purposes  and  the  means  of 
the  curialistic  policy  were  utterly  neglected.  The  Prus- 
sian successes  in  the  field  were  due  above  all  to  the  fact 
that  the  enemy  was  never  undervalued,  that  every  step 
made  by  the  opposing  army  was  carefully  watched,  and 
every  precaution  taken  to  meet  each  emergency.  For 
the  great  ecclesiastical  struggle  there  was  lacking  all 
knowledge  of  the  enemy  as  well  as  all  preparation  in  the 
home  camp.  The  futile  struggle  of  Napoleon  with  the 
Church,  after  he  himself  had  raised  it  out  of  the  dust, 
should  have  suggested  a  careful  calculation  of  the  forces 
before  the  breaking  out  of  the  war.  This  first  struggle 
between  emperor  and  pope  had  ended  in  the  success  of 
the  Curia,  and  so  had  all  similar  contests  since.  Only 
quite  recently,  the  so-called  restoration  of  the  Catholic 
hierarchy  in  England  and  Holland  had  shown  clearly 
enough  how  little  power  there  was  in  any  sudden  excite- 
ment of  the  popular  mind  as  compared  with  tactics  which 


The  International  "  Kulturkanipf^^         i  'j'iy 

count  not  by  years,  but  by  decades  and  by  centuries, 
which  take  all  such  momentary  outbreaks  previously 
into  calculation. 

Nor  was  it  necessary  to  go  to  foreign  countries  to  learn 
the  lesson  ;  for  the  severe  defeats  and  losses  which  the 
Prussian  state  had  suffered  since  the  ecclesiastical  conflict 
in  Cologne  should  have  pointed  out  the  necessity  of  not 
living  from  hand  to  mouth  in  ecclesiastical  politics.  But 
instead  of  learning  from  the  principles  put  into  practice 
in  the  campaigns  of  1866  and  1870,  Prussia  went  into  the 
war  just  as  blind  and  just  as  ignorant  of  the  enemy  as  in 
the  year  1806. 

The  causes,  therefore,  which  brought  about  the  clerical 
triumph  over  the  ecclesiastical  policy  of  Bismarck  are  not 
far  to  seek.  The  very  qualities  which  make  the  states- 
man who  deals  with  material  forces  powerful  render  him 
less  fit  for  a  correct  judgment  of  things  which  are  not  of 
this  world.  All  judging  of  religious-ecclesiastical  affairs 
from  the  political-military  point  of  view  is  doomed  to 
disappointment.  The  question  here  is  not  of  armies 
which  are  reviewed  on  parade,  but  of  apparently  trifling, 
even  invisible  forces.  Napoleon  ridiculed  the  ideologists ; 
he  suffered  bitter  punishment  for  his  contempt  of  ideas. 
The  German  policy  in  the  Kulturkanipf  met  with  the 
same  fate. 

The  papal  account  of  Church  history  in  the  nineteenth 
century  even  now  begins,  not  without  reason,  with  the 
victory  over  the  first  French  emperor  and  concludes  with 
the  triumph  over  the  first  German  imperial  chancellor. 
Posterity,  more  unprejudiced  and  better  informed  than 
the  present  generation,  will  hardly  be  able  to  pronounce 
any  other  judgment  than  that  the  German  statesman 
who  of  all  possessed  the  greatest  mind  failed  in  almost 
every  instance  in  which  he  dealt  with  ecclesiastical  ques- 
tions. The  confusion  of  political  and  ecclesiastical  party 
divisions  was  by  his  action  greatly  intensified. 


174  ^^^  Papacy  in  the  i^ih  Century 

Although  this  issue  of  the  ecclesiastical  policy  of  a 
statesman  whose  work  lay  in  an  entirely  different  direc- 
tion is  easily  explained  from  the  nature  of  things,  we 
must  not  overlook  the  hindrances  which  from  the  begin- 
ning stood  in  the  way  of  success.  The  influence  which 
the  Jesuit  associates  en  robe  coiirte  exerted  during  this 
century  at  the  various  courts  reminds  one  of  the  shrewdest 
and  most  successful  operations  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. This  is  true  almost  more  of  Protestant  than  of 
Catholic  courts.  In  the  former,  the  opinion  prevailed 
that  one  could  never  go  too  far  in  toleration,  with  the  re- 
sult that  many  channels  were  opened  for  the  worst  forms 
of  intolerance.  Nowhere  was  this  more  true  than  in  the 
society  of  the  Berlin  nobility.  The  influence  of  the 
family  Radziwill,  related  to  the  royal  house,  worked 
hand  in  hand  with  that  of  a  large  and  compact  circle  of 
lower,  higher,  and  highest  dependents  of  the  court. 

The  so-called  Catholic  circles  in  the  closest  neighbour- 
hood of  the  court  were  at  the  same  time  in  every 
conceivable  manner  seconded  by  those  Protestant  court 
chaplains  who  were  secretly  undermining  the  normal 
development  of  the  Evangelical  Church  of  Prussia.  This 
is  especially  true  of  that  specifically  clerical  tendency 
whose  character  is  defined  in  the  phrases:  "  throne, 
bayonet,  and  catechism  "  and  "  conniibiiim  imperii  et 
sacerdotii,''  which  looked  upon  the  papal  cohort  as  an 
enviable  pattern  and  a  most  desirable  ally  in  the  guardian- 
ship of  the  popular  faith.  It  was  the  underground 
machinations  of  the  "  Protestant  Jesuits"  that  prepared 
the  way  for  the  papal  triumph  over  the  state  and  over 
the  Evangelical  Church. 

At  the  time  of  the  clerical  mobilisation,  Herr  von 
Miihler,  the  predecessor  of  Falk,  was  minister  of  public 
instruction.  It  was  during  his  administration  that  the 
president    in    chief   of   the   Rhine   province   offered  his 


The  hiternational  "  Kulturkampf"         1 75 

official  aid  to  Archbishop  Melchers  of  Cologne  in  carrying 
out  the  violent  measures,  alluded  to  above,  against  the 
honoured  pastor  Tangermann  in  Unkel.  Driven  from 
his  parish  (one  of  royal  patronage)  on  account  of  his  op- 
position to  the  new  dogma,  Tangermann  remained  true 
to  his  conviction.  Whoever  is  at  all  familiar  with  the 
disposition  of  the  Catholic  clergy  at  that  time  knows  how 
many  hundreds  of  men  with  less  courage  of  their  faith 
were  restrained  from  following  their  convictions  by  the 
attitude  of  the  Prussian  government  in  this  case. 

Not  till  after  the  end  of  the  German-French  war  was 
there  recognised  the  necessity  of  taking  a  stand  against 
the  clerical  intrigues.  Even  then  it  was  a  long  time  be- 
fore it  became  clear  to  the  authorities  what  was  at  issue. 
Many  were  the  mistakes  made  by  the  Falk  ministry ; 
but  they  were  one  and  all  connected  with  the  false  system 
which  at  Berlin  was  made  the  basis  of  all  proceedings. 
While  in  the  enemy's  camp  the  most  approved  instru- 
ments always  worked  in  the  most  fitting  places,  on  the 
part  of  the  state  men  were  called  to  the  direction  of  the 
struggle — overnight  recognised  as  necessary — whose  life- 
work  had  hitherto  been  entirely  different.  The  chief  of  ^ 
the  new  ministry,  Falk,  had  in  all  former  positions  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  legal  acumen  and  human  warmth 
of  character.  But  not  only  did  he  himself  enter  into  an 
entirely  new  field,  he  was  obliged  largely  to  depend  upon 
coworkers  who  systematically  opposed  him.  Of  the 
men  whom  he  himself  called  to  his  assistance,  the  most 
influential  (ministerial  director  Forster)  was  an  official  of 
high  character  and  a  man  of  clear  legal  head,  and  he 
rivalled  his  chief  in  the  power  of  work;  but  he  lacked 
all  knowledge  of  Catholic  popular  life  and  of  the  forces 
which  conditioned  it. 

In  the  ministerial  "  general  staff,"  as  Windhorst  de- 
risively called  it,  there  prevailed  a  spirit  of  clever 
ambition,  which  was  very  little  burdened  with  religious 


I  76  The  Papacy  m  the  igth  Ceittury 

convictions,  and  attached  itself  to  every  political  faction 
that  promised  advantage  for  its  own  career.  The  minis- 
try, as  such,  in  spite  of  the  warning  given  a  generation 
ago  by  Bunsen  to  separate  worship  from  education,  still 
combined  the  most  heterogeneous  tasks.  There  was  not 
the  remotest  idea  of  any  such  concentration  of  forces  as 
obtained  in  Rome. 

The  first  and  purely  defensive  measure  against  the 
growing  danger  of  treachery  in  the  home  camp,  the  dis- 
solution of  the  so-called  Catholic  department,  falls  into 
the  time  of  the  administration  of  Miihler  (July  8,  1871). 
The  other  measure  of  the  same  year,  the  so-called  pulpit 
paragraph  against  the  misuse  of  the  pulpit  for  political 
incendiary  addresses,  was  proposed  by  the  Bavarian  min- 
ister, Lutz,  and  accepted  by  the  German  Reichstag  (De- 
cember 10,  1871).  It  was  not  until  the  beginning  of 
1872  that  the  law  concerning  the  superintendence  of 
schools  was  enacted  as  the  first  positive  measure  of  the 
Falk  ministry  (February). 

That  there  was  in  Berlin  no  desire  for  a  war  with  the 
Church  was  proved  soon  after  by  the  proposition  which 
Prince  Bismarck  made  in  Rome  to  accredit  one  of  the 
cardinals  (Hohenlohe)  as  Prussian  ambassador  to  the 
Curia.  With  a  lack  of  consideration  unheard  of  in 
the  annals  of  diplomacy,  the  pope  refused  this  proposi- 
tion (May  2,  1872).  In  spite  of  this  personal  insult,  the 
imperial  chancellor  declared  repeatedly  that  he  would  not 
give  up  the  hope  of  a  peaceful  agreement,  if  not  with  the 
present,  with  the  succeeding  pope.  The  German  empire 
now,  however,  adopted,  with  the  enthusiastic  approval 
of  the  public,  the  example  given  by  free  Switzerland  of 
the  exclusion  of  the  disturbers  of  the  peace,  the  order  of 
Jesuits  (July  4,  1872);  but  by  this  step  no  change  was 
made  in  the  direct  relations  between  Church  and  State. 

In  the  same  month,  Pius  IX.  had,  in  his  reply  to  the 
address  sent  him  by  the  German  "  readers'  association," 


The  International  "  Ktilttirkampf         177 

predicted  the  destruction  of  the  great  image  by  the  little 
stone  coming  down  from  the  heights  (according  to  Daniel 
ii.,  34).  His  Christmas  allocution  described  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  German  emperor  as  iinpiideiitia  ;  and  in  general 
he  missed  no  opportunity  by  writing  and  by  speech  to 
infuse  personal  venom  into  the  struggle  of  principles. 
Against  all  this  the  state  was  so  defenceless  that  certain 
articles  of  the  Prussian  constitution  had  to  be  changed 
(April  5,  1873)  before  the  first  of  the  so-called  "  May 
laws  "  could  be  passed. 

The  essence  of  these  laws  consisted  in  the  obligation 
which  was  imposed  upon  the  bishops  of  reporting  to  the 
president  of  their  province  the  names  of  the  clergy  whom 
they  wished  to  nominate,  an  obligation  which  in  a  num- 
ber of  other  states  had  long  been  recognised  by  the  Curia. 
It  was  the  refusal  of  this  demand  that  made  the  struggle 
an  acute  one,  because  it  led  to  the  accusation  and  deposi- 
tion of  the  bishops  by  the  state,  in  the  spiritual  courts 
which  in  the  meantime  had  been  instituted. 

Nothing,  however,  caused  so  much  bitterness  as  the 
letter  of  the  pope  to  the  German  emperor  in  which  the 
latter  was  openly  treated  as  the  pope's  subject  by  virtue 
of  baptism  (August  7,  1873). 

The  bishops,  deprived  of  all  independence  by  their 
acknowledgment  of  the  infallibility,  were  forced  to  do 
service  to  the  foreign  enemy  of  their  people.  In  frank 
repudiation  of  the  oaths  which  they  had  taken  at  their 
institution  into  office,  they  carried  the  war  into  the  par- 
ishes by  intentionally  leaving  their  religious  needs  un- 
provided for.  The  pope  called  the  evils  thus  produced  a 
Diocletian  persecution  of  the  Church.  And  the  association 
of  German  Catholics,  founded  and  directed  in  Mayence, 
carried  on  (simultaneously  with  the  French  "  revenge 
processions  "  to  Lourdes)  an  open  revolutionary  agitation. 

The  government  then  sought  another  temporary  ex- 
pedient in  the  new  May  laws  of  the  year  1874  concerning 


I  j^  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centziry 

the  right  of  election  of  parishes  and  the  dismissal  of 
recalcitrant  ecclesiastics.  The  first  of  these  laws  also 
sanctioned  the  inauguration  of  the  so-called  "  state- 
Catholicism."  The  latter  movement  was  in  every  way- 
favoured  by  the  state,  while  every  effort  was  made  to 
prevent  the  growth  of  the  old-Catholic  movement.  A 
more  effectual  step  was,  however,  taken  when  civil  mar- 
riage was  made  obligatory.  This  was  carried  through  in 
spite  of  severe  conscientious  scruples  on  the  part  of  the 
pious  emperor. 

The  so-called  May  laws  are  commonly  held  to  have 
been  the  occasion  of  the  conflict  between  Prussia  and  the 
Vatican,  but  the  real  origin  of  this  trouble  is  to  be  traced 
farther  back,  to  the  coup  d'etat  of  the  Vatican  Council 
and  the  papal  desire  for  intervention  in  Italy.  Among 
the  first  answers  to  the  May  laws  we  recognise  the  at- 
tempt on  Bismarck's  life  by  Kullmann  (J'uly  13,  1874)  and 
the  papal  encyclical  Quod  7iunqiiam  (of  February  5,  1875). 
The  first  showed,  according  to  the  explanation  given  by 
the  Germania,  the  "  intensification  of  Catholic  anger  over 
the  ecclesiastical  policy  of  Bismarck " ;  the  encyclical 
gave  the  most  clear-cut  expression  to  the  irreconcilable 
opposition  of  the  infallible  ecclesiastical  autocracy  to  the 
modern  state.  The  Prussian  laws  were  characterised  as 
not  being  made  for  free  citizens,  as  not  appealing  to  a 
rational  obedience,  but  as  being  imposed  upon  slaves  and 
forcing  obedience  by  the  power  of  terror.  Not  enough 
with  this  theory :  the  pope  expressly  declared  the  laws  of 
the  state  to  be  null  and  void,  because  in  contradiction 
to  the  divine  constitution  of  the  Church.  All  those  im- 
pious men  who  incurred  the  crime  of  accepting  a  spiritual 
ofifice  without  episcopal  nomination  were  visited  with  the 
major  excommunication.  There  followed  a  series  of 
other,  in  part  childish,  demonstrations  and  commenda- 
tions of  recalcitrant  bishops. 

The    Christmas    allocution    of   the   same    year   raged 


The  International  "  Kulturkampf         1 79 

against  the  second  Nero,  other  addresses  stormed  against 
the  modern  Attila.  At  the  same  time,  the  French  desire 
for  a  war  of  revenge  was  in  every  way  fostered,  and  in 
Germany  a  close  alHance  was  entered  into  with  all  other 
tendencies  working  for  the  dissolution  of  the  state;  in- 
deed, the  various  alliances  between  the  Ultramontane 
and  the  Social-Democratic  parties  more  than  anything 
else  stamp  this  religious  war  with  a  peculiar  character. 

The  laws  of  1875  followed,  as  the  next  step  on  the  part 
of  the  state,  after  the  papal  declaration  of  invalidity 
against  the  state  laws;  they  were  the  following:  the  so- 
called  "  Sperrgesetz  "  (law  of  inhibition)  concerning  the 
administration  of  episcopal  incomes  (April  22d),'  the  ex- 
clusion of  all  orders  with  the  exception  of  those  that  de- 
voted themselves  to  the  care  of  the  sick  (May  31st),  the 
formal  cancelling  of  certain  articles  of  the  Prussian  con- 
stitution (June  i8th),  and  the  changes  in  the  administra- 
tion of  property  (June  20th).  The  last  received  the 
approbation  of  the  clerical  party ;  against  all  the  other 
laws  protest  and  agitation  was  renewed  at  every  conceiv- 
able opportunity. 

As  long  as  the  reign  of  Pius  IX.  lasted,  the  mutual 
embitterment  increased  more  and  more.  The  party  of 
the  Centre  and  the  clerical  press  understood  so  well  how 
to  discipline  the  dependent  classes  of  society  that  every 
election  brought  them  new  victories.  To  be  sure,  this 
did  not  imply  any  positive  success.  The  laws  were  uni- 
versally executed.  In  spite  of  all  agitation,  the  general 
result  was  such  that  it  would  only  have  required  a  few 
years  of  peace  to  make  the  new  system  of  laws  at  home 
in  the  popular  life.  Towards  the  end  of  the  reign  of 
Pius  IX.,  the  condition  of  affairs  forms  a  striking  paral- 
lel to  that  period  of  the  reign  of  Innocent  III.   which 

'  This  law  stopped  payments  from  the  state  to  the  bishops  and  other 
clergy  who  would  not  pledge  themselves  in  writing  to  obey  the  laws  of  the 
state. 


i8o  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

immediately  preceded  the  assassination  of  the  emperor 
Philip  of  Suabia  (1208).  Modern  researches  have  estab- 
lished the  fact  of  an  undoubted  yielding,  in  this  period,  on 
the  part  of  the  most  powerful  of  the  mediaeval  popes.  It 
was  the  assassination  of  Philip  that  gave  the  final  victory 
to  the  Papacy.  The  same  significance  for  the  parallel 
struggle  of  the  nineteenth  century  attaches  to  the  at- 
tempts upon  the  life  of  the  emperor  by  Hodel  and  by 
Nobiling  (1878).  Only  Pius  himself  did  not  live  to  reap 
the  fruits  of  these  events  in  the  furtherance  of  his  own 
plans. 

The  other  German  states  had  been  drawn  into  the 
struggle  of  the  Papacy  against  Prussia  in  so  far  as  many 
of  the  measures  necessary  for  protection  concerned  the 
empire.  But  aside  from  this,  almost  every  one  of  the 
states  had  its  own  Knlturkanipf.  The  only  exceptions 
were  Saxony,  whose  dynasty  retained  the  position  taken 
since  the  conversion  of  Augustus  the  Strong,  and  Wiir- 
temberg,  where  Bishop  Hefele,  an  opponent  in  the  coun- 
cil, had  by  the  favour  of  the  court  and  the  anger  of  the 
pope  been  changed  into  a  peace-bishop. 

In  Bavaria,  on  the  other  hand,  the  "  patriotic"  party 
in  every  Landtag  attempted  repeated  attacks  upon  the 
ministry.  The  latter  made  concessions  to  the  clericals 
and  used  every  means  at  the  disposal  of  the  bureaucracy 
to  render  the  old-Catholic  movement  ineffectual.  Never- 
theless it  was  not  sufficiently  compliant  to  the  so-called 
"  extremists."  More  and  more  concessions  were  secretly 
made  to  clericalism.  At  the  same  time,  the  liberal 
party,  which  had  shown  its  usual  depreciation  of  the  re- 
ligious factor,  suffered  more  and  more  losses  in  the  repre- 
sentation and  in  the  magistracy. 

More  violent  was  the  war  in  Baden.  The  archiepiscopal 
see,  which  had  become  vacant,  remained  unfilled,  because 
the  Curia  would  not  accept  the  nominee  of  the  cathedral 


The  International  "  Kulttirkampf         i8i 

chapter,  Dean  Orbin,  who  was  acceptable  to  the  govern- 
ment. The  clerical  revolutionary  agitation,  which  was 
doubly  dangerous  in  this  border-state,  prompted  the 
ministry  to  pass  the  Church  law  of  April  19,  1874,  which 
defined  more  stringently  the  conditions  for  the  appoint- 
ments to  parishes,  and  among  other  things  made  rules 
for  the  examinations  of  theological  students  in  both 
churches.  The  Curia  refused  to  accept  this  law,  and 
parishes  remained  unfilled,  but  the  liberal  party  in  Baden 
lost  a  number  of  seats  at  every  election  by  its  own  discord. 
Even  in  Hesse-Darmstadt,  the  domain  of  Bishop  von 
Ketteler,  several  new  laws  were  adopted  in  the  year 
1875  ;  these  laws  were  in  all  essentials  formed  after  the 
Prussian  Church  laws.  Here,  too,  a  number  of  parishes 
remained  unoccupied,  and  after  the  death  of  the  bishop 
the  episcopal  see  shared  the  same  fate. 

The  most  curious  proof  of  how  unavoidable  were  the 
conflicts  which  the  Vatican  Council  had  forced  upon  all 
the  states,  lies  in  the  extraordinary  similarity  between 
the  Kulturkampf  \w  the  German  empire  and  in  republican 
Switzerland.  An  act  of  usurpation  on  the  part  of  Pius 
IX.,  cancelling  all  former  laws  and  agreements,  called 
the  Swiss  confederation  to  the  war :  namely,  the  separa- 
tion, carried  through  against  all  representations  and  pro- 
tests, of  Geneva  from  the  diocese  of  Fribourg,  and  the 
nomination  of  an  intriguer,  Mermillod,  to  be  the  "  apos- 
tolical vicar  "  of  Geneva  (1873).  The  undisguised  con- 
tempt which  he  manifested  for  existing  legal  conditions 
forced  even  the  peace-loving  confederate  council  to  expel 
Mermillod  from  Switzerland  and  to  break  off  diplomatic 
relations  with  the  Curia;  the  papal  nuncio  received  his 
passes. 

This  conflict  with  the  pope  on  the  part  of  Switzerland 
was  accompanied  by  a  series  of  internal  struggles  in  the 
majority  of  the  separate  cantons.     There  was  a  conflict 


1 82  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centtiry 

in  Geneva,  where  Mermillod  from  the  neighbouring  Fer- 
ney  fostered  the  opposition  to  the  authorities  in  every 
possible  way,  and  where  the  state,  following  the  example 
of  other  states,  had  to  protect  itself  by  adopting  a  new 
Church  law.  This  law  left  the  choice  of  clergymen  to 
the  parishes,  and  as  the  papal  faction  would  not  consent 
to  this,  the  most  important  parishes  fell  into  the  hands 
■of  the  recently  organised  Christian  Catholic  Church. 
When  the  clerical  agitation  went  so  far  as  to  attempt  to 
deprive  the  commonwealth  of  its  sources  of  income,  the 
great  council  met  this  attack  by  the  dissolution  of  all 
spiritual  corporations  and  the  prohibition  of  all  religious 
processions  and  ceremonies  in  public  places.  The  clerical 
party  then  attempted  to  pass  a  law  for  the  separation  of 
Church  and  State.  So  far  their  efforts  have  been  futile. 
But  there  is  no  means  of  foretelling  the  future,  where 
the  government  changes  so  often,  and  where  these  changes 
usually  bring  the  opposite  principles  in  ecclesiastical  af- 
fairs into  power. 

Besides  the  disorders  in  Geneva  there  were  disturbances 
in  the  diocese  of  Basle.  When  the  bishop  of  Basle, 
Lachat,  under  the  influence  of  his  chancellor,  Duret,  ex- 
communicated and  deposed  pastors  Egli  and  Gschwind, 
who  had  remained  true  to  the  old  faith,  ofTflcial  recogni- 
tion of  him  was  withdrawn  by  a  majority  of  the  cantons 
of  the  diocese.  Only  Lucerne  and  Zug  remained  faithful 
to  the  bishop.  Berne  became  the  centre  of  this  conflict. 
The  ministers  who  were  attached  to  the  deposed  bishop 
refused  obedience  to  the  state  laws.  They  were  declared 
to  have  forfeited  their  positions.  Against  this  judgment 
of  the  court  they  resorted  to  open  force  and  produced 
such  commotion  in  their  parishes  that  the  military  had 
to  be  called  in,  and  the  agitators  were  driven  from  the 
country.  At  the  same  time  the  new  Church  law  which 
had  been  accepted  by  a  large  majority  came  into  opera- 
tion ;  the  object  of  this  law  was  to  lay  the  foundation  of 


TJie  International  ^''  Kulturka^npf"         183 

a  new  Church  by  giving  the  choice  of  the  minister  to  all 
Swiss  citizens  entitled  to  a  vote.  The  so-called  "  intru- 
sion "  of  the  new  state  pastors  and  the  character  of  the 
agitation  against  them  forms  one  of  the  most  interesting 
chapters  in  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  Switzerland. 

The  then  government  of  Berne  showed  a  strict  con- 
sistency of  action,  and  if  the  conduct  of  the  other  cantons 
had  been  like  that  of  Berne  the  result  would  have  been 
wholly  different.  But  this  canton,  standing  alone,  found 
in  the  struggle  with  the  papal  world-power  no  help  out- 
side its  own  borders;  on  the  contrary,  it  was  rather  dis- 
avowed by  the  federate  council  on  account  of  the  decree 
of  banishment  against  the  deposed  ministers.  The  final 
result  was  the  amnesty  declared  at  the  change  of  govern- 
ment in  1878,  and  the  effect  of  this  amnesty  was  the 
complete  destruction  of  the  recently  inaugurated  state- 
Catholicism.  The  Catholic  theological  faculty,  which 
was  founded  during  the  course  of  these  disorders,  proved 
to  be  the  only  really  promising  result  of  the  Kultiirkainpf 
in  Switzerland. 

Even  Austria,  which  since  the  days  of  Consalvi  had 
been  held  in  high  esteem  at  Rome  on  account  of  its  pro- 
verbial good-nature,  was  not  preserved  from  ecclesiastical 
quarrels  after  the  Vatican  Council.  Before  the  council 
there  had  already  been  marked  premonitions  of  these 
quarrels.  Immeasurable  concessions  had  been  made  by 
the  concordat  to  the  Curia.  But  the  constitutional  state 
could  not  remain  untouched  by  the  general  demand  of 
the  times  for  equality  of  the  confessions,  independence 
of  the  school,  and  civil  marriage.  The  protests  of  the 
bishops  were  futile,  and  the  new  laws  received  the  im- 
perial sanction  on  the  25th  of  May,  1868.  This  brought 
out  the  papal  manifesto  declaring  the  "  abominable" 
laws  invalid.  The  papal  allocution  declared:  "  We  re- 
ject and  condemn  these    laws    on    the  strength    of   our 


184  The  Papacy  171  the  igth  CenUwy 

apostolical  authority,  and  by  the  same  authority  we  decide 
that  they  have  been  and  will  be  altogether  void  and 
without  all  authority."  As  a  consequence,  there  followed 
further  incendiary  pastorals  from  the  bishops.  Warned 
by  these  proceedings,  the  Austrian  government  joined  in 
the  representations  made  in  Rome  against  the  proposed 
new  dogma  of  infallibility.  When  these  were  disre- 
garded, the  concordat  was,  on  the  ground  of  the  change 
in  the  situation  consequent  upon  this  dogma,  declared 
abrogated  (July  30,  1870). 

In  spite  of  this  apparent  energy,  it  was  four  years  be- 
fore the  Austrian  government  brought  before  the  Reichs- 
tag the  new  laws  which  were  now  rendered  necessary. 
These  fell  into  four  groups:  concerning  the  appointments 
to  spiritual  offices,  concerning  the  support  of  the  clergy 
and  the  improvement  which  it  was  thereby  intended  to 
effect  in  the  condition  of  the  lower  clergy,  concerning  the 
recognition  of  new  religious  associations,  and  concerning 
monasteries.  The  House  of  Representatives  accepted  all 
four  laws,  while  the  House  of  Peers  wished  to  have  the 
law  concerning  monasteries  modified.  During  the  nego- 
tiations the  pope  issued  an  encyclical,  in  which  he  called 
upon  the  bishops  for  the  most  energetic  resistance,  and 
at  the  same  time  he  appealed  to  the  emperor  in  a  letter 
demanding  the  veto  of  the  laws.  When  the  latter  never- 
theless confirmed  the  first  three  laws  (May,  1874),  the 
bishops  issued  a  declaration  to  the  effect  that  they  would 
render  obedience  to  the  laws  only  in  so  far  as  they  were 
in  agreement  with  the  concordat. 

Hereby  was  declared  the  same  opposition  as  in  Prussia: 
the  divine  constitution  of  the  Church  against  the  tempo- 
ral law-giving  power  of  the  state.  But  the  papal  policy 
had  not  forgotten  the  traditions  of  Gregory  VH.,  who 
during  the  struggle  with  Henry  IV.  conceded  to  the 
king  of  France  and  the  Norman  dukes  exactly  the  same 
things  in    behalf  of  which  he    waged    a   life-and-death 


The  International  ''^  Kulturkampf'         185 

struggle  with  the  German  king.  The  Curia,  while  at  all 
times  it  recognised  in  the  state  of  Frederic  its  mortal 
enemy,  counted  in  Austria  upon  the  slow  but  sure  opera- 
tion of  influences  favourable  to  itself. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  happy-go-lucky  way  which 
generally  characterises  the  Austrian  bureaucracy  mani- 
fested itself  again  in  ecclesiastical  affairs.  Although  the 
separate  articles  of  the  new  laws  were  partly  even  more 
severe  than  those  of  the  Prussian  code,  yet,  while  in 
Prussia  the  courts  were  to  decide  in  cases  of  collision,  in 
Austria  the  decision  was  given  to  the  administration,  so 
that  it  depended  upon  the  pleasure  of  that  body  whether 
they  would  apply  or  ignore  the  laws.  When  the  long- 
pending  law  concerning  monasteries  had  at  last  been 
adopted  by  the  House  of  Peers,  the  nuncio  succeeded  by 
his  influence  in  preventing  the  imperial  confirmation. 
The  law  concerning  marriages  left  the  numerous  abuses 
in  force  which  had  been  called  forth  by  the  precedence 
of  canonical  over  civil  law.  The  incorporation  into  the 
university  of  the  Evangelical  theological  faculty  in  Vienna 
was  persistently  refused.  Ofificials  high  and  low  rivalled 
each  other  in  abuse  of  the  old-Catholics.  The  bishop  of 
Linz,  among  other  provocations  of  which  he  was  guilty, 
vilified  in  the  grossest  manner  the  Evangelical  deacon- 
esses' institution,  and  the  clericals  of  the  Tyrol  repeatedly 
excited  popular  fanaticism  against  the  Evangelical  foreign 
congregations  of  Meran  and  Innspruck.  The  emperor 
Francis  Joseph  showed  repeatedly  that  personally  he  was 
very  anxious  for  religious  peace.  But  year  after  year  a 
series  of  new  events  in  all  the  provinces  gave  evidence  of 
a  continued  forced  retreat  on  the  part  of  tolerant  Joseph- 
inism  before  the  advancing  intolerance  of  the  papal 
principle. 

In  this  same  period  Spain  as  well  as  Austria  was  fated 
to  feel  the  weight  of  the  pretensions  which  followed  as  a 


1 86  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centitry 

consequence  upon  the  declaration  of  infallibility  by  the 
Vatican  Council.  Again,  it  was  one  of  the  revolutions  in 
this  country,  so  devoted  to  the  Papacy,  which  placed  all 
the  boundlessness  of  these  pretensions  in  the  clearest 
light.  The  republican  constitution  of  1869  conceded, 
with  certain  limitations,  the  long-suppressed  religious 
liberty,  and  the  year  1870  saw  a  law  for  civil  marriages 
passed;  but  the  restored  monarchy  (Alfonso  XII.,  Janu- 
ary, 1875)  soon  carried  through  a  number  of  new  limita- 
tions. The  decree  of  February  10,  1875,  gave  back  to 
the  hierarchy  the  power  to  conclude  marriages  and  the 
administration  of  the  marriage  law,  and  civil  marriage  was 
tolerated  only  for  those  "  who  profess  another  than  the 
true  faith,"  and  for  "  bad  Catholics";  all  marriages  of 
resigned  priests,  monks,  and  nuns  were  prohibited,  and 
such  marriages  already  concluded  were  declared  invalid. 

The  proposed  new  constitution  tolerated  dissenting 
worship,  but  forbade  all  public  manifestations  thereof. 
Pius  IX.  immediately  protested  against  this  article, 
because   it  abrogated    the   concordat  of   Isabella   in  its 

noblest  "  part  (namely,  the  suppression  of  dissenters), 
and  because  it  embodied  a  serious  act  of  enmity  against 
the  Catholic  Church.  Nevertheless  the  Cortes  of  1876 
sanctioned  the  article  in  question.  But  the  Evangelical 
congregations  have  since  been  exposed  to  numerous  in- 
vidious and  petty  annoyances,  whose  origin  is  only  too 
apparent.  And  the  protest  of  the  Papacy,  renewed  again 
and  again,  against  all  toleration  of  other  churches  in 
Spain  has  once  more  revealed  unmistakably  its  never- 
ceasing  war  against  the  civil  rights  of  modern  society. 

The  relations  of  the  Papacy  to  Russia  had  become 
embittered  past  remedy  after  the  coarse  insult  which  Pius 
IX.  had  inflicted  upon  the  Russian  ambassador  at  the  New 
Year's  reception  of  1866,  so  that  the  Vatican  Council  could 
hardly  bring  any  intensification  of  the  opposition  in  this 
quarter.      But   Pius  has  since  then  not  only  sought  in 


The  International  "  Kulturkampf         187 

every  way  to  intensify  the  internal  crises  of  Russia,  but 
has  given  his  aid  to  Turkey  in  the  war  against  the 
schismatic  state.  What  the  result  has  been,  the  partici- 
pation of  the  pope  in  the  oriental  crisis  and  the  internal 
condition  of  the  Russian  Church  show. 

As  long  as  Germany  was  ablaze  with  the  Kiilturkainpf^ 
France,  conquered  in  war,  was  the  focus  of  a  fanatical 
papal  agitation.  The  third  republic  went  beyond  the 
regime  of  the  Restoration,  of  the  July  monarchy,  and  of 
the  empire  in  its  subserviency  to  the  papal  principle,  and 
the  hope  of  an  alliance  with  the  black  International  in  the 
war  of  vengeance  against  Germany  by  no  means  confined 
itself  to  demonstrative  pilgrimages  of  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands to  La  Salette,  Lourdes,  and  Paray  le  Monial,  to 
the  accompaniment  of  the  pilgrims'  song,  Sauvez  Rome  et 
la  France.  The  foundation  of  the  so-called  free  Catholic 
universities  owes  its  origin  to  the  same  situation. 

It  is  so  much  the  more  remarkable  that  at  exactly  the 
same  time  that  Germany  sought  an  understanding  with 
the  Curia  \.\\.q.  Kulturkavipf  &xm%X2XQ.di  into  France.  One 
could  hardly  conceive  of  a  clearer  proof  that  it  was  a 
question  of  the  same  problems  in  all  states,  though  through 
the  adroitness  of  the  curialistic  policy  these  problems 
might  present  themselves  in  this  and  that  place  at  differ- 
ent times.  The  conflict  in  France  was  not  only  quite 
equal  to  that  in  Germany,  but  the  rigour  of  the  opposition 
was  rather  increased  by  the  alliance  of  the  clerical  ten- 
dency with  the  anti-republican  parties.  The  passionate 
fury  of  the  opposition  to  the  educational  laws  of  Ferry 
rivals  the  worst  excesses  of  the  German  clerical  press. 
The  Curia  itself  interfered  both  directly  and  indirectly. 
It  nevertheless  succeeded  in  avoiding  an  official  rupture 
in  France,  as  it  had  done  in  Austria.  The  strategy  of 
Leo  XIII.,  different  as  it  was  from  that  of  his  prede- 
cessor, made  itself  felt  in  the  French  Knlturkatnpf ;  and 
we  shall  therefore  reserve  the  special  consideration  of  this 


1 88  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

conflict  until    we  speak    of    the    general    policy    of    this 
pope. 

What  is  true  of  France  is  again  true  of  Belgium.  Dur- 
ing the  reign  of  Pius  IX.,  it  remained  the  centre  of  a 
clerical  agitation  whose  influence  extended  to  all  neigh- 
bouring countries.  And  yet  it  was  not  spared  its  own 
Kidturkampf,  and  in  the  conflict  with  Belgium  more  than 
in  any  other  country  the  diplomacy  of  Leo  XIII.  gave 
proof  of  its  true  moral  character. 

To  what  extent  clerical  encroachments  have  since  the 
Vatican  Council  increased  in  England  and  Holland  will 
appear  later.  Whether  the  acute  or  the  lingering  chronic 
Kutturkampf  hnngs  with  it  worse  consequences  for  the 
ethical  religious  life  of  Catholic  populations,  is  a  question 
which  we  can  decide  only  when  we  consider  and  compare 
the  conditions  of  the  countries  under  the  former  and  the 
latter  infliction.  But  the  mere  review  of  the  acute 
struggles  of  the  last  period  of  Pius  IX.  would  be  incom- 
plete, did  we  not  turn  our  attention  from  European 
countries  to  America.  The  conflict  of  the  Curia  with 
the  Brazilian  government  was  for  some  time  considered 
an  instructive  type  by  those  European  states  which  met 
the  same  fate.  The  Berlin  official  press,  which  a  few 
years  later  liked  to  choose  its  foreign  illustrations  from 
among  the  concessions  of  other  states  to  the  Curia,  at  this 
time  could  not  refer  enough  to  the  parallel  with  Brazil. 

The  origin  of  the  struggle  lay  here  no  less  than  else- 
where in  the  impossibility  of  reconciling  the  protection 
which  the  state  affords  to  liberty  of  conscience  with  the 
claim  to  exclusive  right  made  by  the  papal  principle. 
After  long-continued  religious  oppression,  especially  of 
the  immigrant  Evangelical  Germans,  the  Brazilian  state 
finally  declared  its  recognition  of  marriages  performed 
according  to  Protestant  rites,  and  the  civil  effects  of 
excommunication  were  declared  abolished.      The  same 


The  International  "  Kulturkampf"         189 

liberal  government,  which  in  these  questions  brought 
about  the  equal  rights  of  all  citizens,  then  endeavoured 
to  protect  itself  against  clerical  agitation  by  sustaining 
the  placet  and  by  demanding  that  the  bishops  should 
give  notice  of  newly  appointed  clergy.  All  these  ex- 
cesses of  a  "  godless  infidelity  "  were,  as  is  customary 
in  Catholic-Latin  countries,  attributed  to  freemasonry. 
The  bishops,  at  their  head  Oliveira  and  Olinda,  made 
the  anathematising  of  Freemasons  their  favourite  occu- 
pation.    A  papal  brief  (June,  1873)  came  to  their  aid. 

As  soon  as  the  latter  appeared,  Oliveira  published  it 
without  having  obtained  the  placet,  inflicted  the  greater 
excommunication  upon  a  minister  who  belonged  to  the 
lodge,  and  placed  all  those  fraternities  under  the  interdict 
that  refused  to  expel  masonic  members.  Brought  for 
this  before  the  highest  court,  he  was  condemned  to  sev- 
eral years'  imprisonment  at  the  same  time  that  similar 
processes  began  in  Prussia  against  the  rebellious  bishops. 
The  banishment  of  the  Jesuits,  who  had  distinguished 
themselves  in  the  agitation  against  the  Freemasons,  made 
the  parallel  complete. 

But  even  before  Prussia  inaugurated  those  measures 
which  set  a  premium  upon  open  violations  of  the  law, 
Brazil  had  preceded  it  on  this  path.  The  amnesty  for 
the  transgressors  of  the  law  was  soon  followed  by  a  com- 
plete clerical  reaction.  According  to  the  accounts  of  the 
clerical  press  itself,  the  confinement  of  the  crown  prin- 
cess, which  was  then  imminent,  was  made  use  of  in  favour 
of  this  reaction.  Such  use  Loyola  himself  had  well 
understood  to  make  of  similar  occurrences,  and  he  had 
instructed  the  brothers  of  his  order  in  the  same  policy. 

In  the  Catholic  Latin  countries  of  South  and  Central 
America,  we  see  the  claims  of  the  papal  principle  carried 
out  more  consistently  than  anywhere  else.  The  concor- 
dat of  Ecuador  bears  an  especial  significance  in  this  re- 
spect.     During  the  Kulturkampf  \n  unbelieving  Europe 


190  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

the  clerical  press  repeatedly  comforted  itself  with  this 
model  state.  In  the  year  1873  the  government  of  Presi- 
dent Moreno,  although  it  could  not  cover  even  the  most 
necessary  expenses  in  their  own  country,  devoted  a  tenth 
of  all  the  receipts  of  the  state  to  alleviating  the  distress 
of  the  prisoner  in  the  Vatican.  In  the  meantime,  the 
social  condition  of  Ecuador  was  becoming  from  year  to 
year  worse.  It  was  therefore  not  long  before  one  of 
those  revolutions  so  common  in  these  half-barbarous 
countries  broke  out,  and  President  Moreno  lost  his  life 
(1875).  The  clerical  press  in  Europe  in  innumerable 
articles  extolled  this  condottiere  as  a  saint  and  a  martyr. 
But  before  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Pius  IX.  the  concordat 
with  Ecuador,  which  had  so  often  been  held  up  as  a 
model  to  other  states,  was  abolished  (1877). 

The  greater  the  number  of  moral  defeats  which  the 
policy  of  Pius  IX.  has  suffered  since  the  Vatican  Council, 
the  more  has  the  papal  press  pleased  itself  by  the  com- 
parison of  his  sufferings  with  those  of  Christ.  The 
parallel  was  carried  so  far  as  to  suggest  a  new  incarnation 
of  Christ  in  Pius.  Even  before  the  year  of  the  council,  we 
saw  the  Pius  hymn  used  for  the  spread  of  the  doctrine 
that  a  sinful  generation  found  no  sin  in  Pius.  After  the 
declaration  of  infallibility,  men  no  longer  shrank  from  the 
last  consequences:  the  words  of  Christ,  "  Which  of  you 
convinceth  me  of  sin  ? "  were  applied  directly  to  Pius. 

He  himself  illustrated  most  drastically  this  sinlessness 
by  an  effusion  of  language  which  became  every  year  more 
passionate.  Probably  no  satirical  author  has  ever  added 
so  much  to  the  dictionary  of  abusive  epithets.  But 
abuse  and  invective  were  far  outdone  by  his  coarse  cari- 
cature of  biblical  truths.  The  personalities  which  Curci 
has  communicated  concerning  the  self-deification  of  this 
pope  during  his  last  years  are  so  disgusting  that  we  can- 
not occupy  ourselves  with  them ;  yet  the  judgment  of  a 


The  International  "  Kultiirkampf''         191 

man  who  since  the  year  1842  had  stood  in  personal  rela- 
tions to  the  pope  deserves  careful  consideration.  Neither 
may  we  forget  the  service  which  Gladstone  rendered  by 
gathering  from  the  ofificial  edition  of  Pius'  Discorsi  a 
collection  of  his  favourite  expressions.  And  we  must  read 
the  familiar  addresses  made  to  the  faithful  of  all  coun- 
tries who  were  admitted  to  audience,  if  we  would  form  a 
correct  appreciation  of  the  agitations  and  conflicts  of 
which  he  was  the  author ;  for  in  these  the  nature  of  the 
pope  as  such  receives  more  unadulterated  expression  than 
in  the  allocutions  and  encyclicals  which  are  inspired  and 
corrected  by  others. 

Secretary  of  State  Antonelli  took  charge  of  the  money 
exactions.  The  property  which  the  latter  left  amounted 
to  more  than  a  hundred  millions;  his  natural  daughter 
(the  Countess  Lambertini)  in  vain  demanded  her  part. 
Before  this  celebrated  suit  revealed  to  his  astonished  con- 
temporaries the  private  character  of  the  cardinal,  there 
had  already  been  drawn  for  the  world  of  the  "  faithful  " 
a  picture  of  Antonelli  in  the  character  of  saint :  this  was 
done  by  the  German  Monsignore  Dewaal.  The  canonisa- 
tion of  Pius  IX.  himself  was  agitated  immediately  after 
his  death.  His  remains  have  long  ago  performed  the 
requisite  number  of  miracles. 


CHAPTER   XIII 


THE    PEACE-POPE,    LEO    XIII. 


AS  Pius  IX.  advanced  in  age,  the  idea  became  preva- 
lent among  certain  classes  which  had  been  violently 
excited  by  the  clerical  press,  that  this  pope  would  not  die 
until  he  had  gained  a  victory  over  his  enemies.  The 
sufferings  of  Pius  had  already  been  compared  with  the 
passion  of  Christ,  and  the  last  prediction  to  the  favourite 
disciple  was  applied  to  him:  "  This  disciple  shall  not 
die."  In  the  Vatican,  however,  they  are  accustomed  to 
a  more  matter-of-fact  calculation,  and  during  the  reign 
of  the  one  pope  thought  is  taken  for  that  of  his  successor. 
Immediately  upon  the  death  of  Pius  (February  7,  1878), 
the  conclave  met,  and  after  a  session  of  only  two  days  Car- 
dinal Joachim  Pecci  was  proclaimed  pope.  He  took  the 
name  of  Leo  XIII.,  in  honour  of  the  predecessor,  Leo 
XII.,  who  had  conducted  him  through  the  first  steps 
along  the  path  of  priestly  world-dominion.  In  fact,  both 
the  methods  of  his  reign  and  its  results  bear  a  remarkable 
resemblance  to  those  of  his  patron. 

Leo  XII.  personally,  though  little  loved  by  the  Ro- 
man people,  by  his  adroit  management  made  himself 
sympathetic  to  the  ministers  of  the  foreign  powers;  Leo 
XIII.  appears  in  contrast  to  his  vain  and  loquacious  pre- 
decessor as  a  diplomat  of  noble  and  dignified  character. 
From  the  very  first  moment  he  understood  the  use  of 
measured  words  and  engaging  speeches.     He  personally 

192 


The  Peace- Pope,  Leo  XIII.  193 

announced  his  accession  to  those  states  with  which  Pius 
IX.  had  come  to  an  open  rupture  and  gave  expression  to 
the  desire  for  a  resumption  of  friendly  relations.  This  he 
did  to  the  German  and  Russian  emperors,  and  to  the  Swiss 
federate  council.  This  mere  act  of  courtesy  would  have 
sufficed  for  the  politicians  to  give  him  the  name  of  a 
peace-loving  pope  in  distinction  from  Pius.  But  in 
ofificial  negotiations  also  Leo  XIII.  was  never  wanting 
in  theoretical  assurances  of  peace.  The  most  celebrated 
of  these  is  his  brief  of  February  28,  1880,  to  the  deposed 
Archbishop  Melchers  of  Cologne,  in  which  he  expressed 
his  willingness  to  permit  the  announcement  to  the  state 
officials  of  newly  chosen  pastors.  But  the  negotiations 
undertaken  upon  this  tolerari  posse  (which  afterwards  be- 
came proverbial)  showed  clearly  how  little  thought  there 
was  of  any  real  concession. 

/Anyone  familiar  with  the  official  utterances  of  Leo 
XIII.  will  find  the  talk  of  the  papers  about  the  "  peace- 
pope  "  unintelligible.  As  bishop  of  Perugia  he  had  in  a 
pastoral  letter  characterised  Protestantism  as  "  a  pest,  the 
most  pestilential  heresy,  a  stupid,  fickle  system,  originat- 
ing in  arrogance  and  godlessness."  The  knowledge  of 
the  Reformation  which  he  here  showed  corresponded  to 
the  general  standard  of  education  of  the  Italian  episcopate 
(admirably  characterised  by  Rothe  in  the  era  of  Leo  XII).' 
But  even  after  he  had  become  infallible  Joachim  Pecci 
remained  throughout  true  to  the  intellectual  standard 
that  had  characterised  him  as  bishop. 
/There  has  hardly  been  a  single  pope  who  considered 
the  most  contemptible  falsification  of  history  in  regard  to 
the  Reformation  as  less  beneath  his  dignity  than  Leo  in 
his  second  encyclical.  In  this — making  adroit  use  of  the 
social-democratic  and  nihilistic  assassinations — he  praised 
to  the  terrified  governments  the  Church  as  the  sole 
guardian  of  society ;  and  he  took  the  same  opportunity 

'  See  page  80. 
*3 


/ 


^. 


94  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centttry 


to  stamp  the  Reformation,  "  the  insane  war  which  since 
the  sixteenth  century  had  been  waged  by  the  innovators 
against  the  CathoHc  Church,"  as  the  mother  of  the 
"  death-deaHng  pest  "  of  sociaHsm.  Even  more  pro- 
nounced were  his  expressions  about  the  Evangelical 
schools  in  Rome,  about  "  the  impudence  without  parallel 
with  which  in  Rome  even  under  the  eyes  of  the  pope 
such  schools  were  established,  in  which  tender  children 
were  fed  with  abominable  errors,  and  from  which  pro- 
j     ceeded   influences  the  most  harmful  and   the  most  in- 

^  \<    jurious  to  manners." 

^  /  Ks  **  supreme  head  of  the  Catholic  Church  "  he  took  a 
very  positive  stand.  His  very  first  encyclical  appealed 
expressly  to  the  infallibility  of  the  apostolical  see  and 
asserted  just  as  explicitly  the  condemnation  of  all  errors 
condemned  by  his  predecessors.  His  references  to  Mary 
as  the  immaculate  queen  of  heaven,  and  to  Joseph  as  the 
heavenly  patron  of  the  Church,  prove  that  he  occupied 
the  same  theological  position  as  Pius  IX.  He  also  em- 
phasised the  necessity  of  the  restoration  of  the  temporal 
sovereignty  of  the  holy  see,  at  the  same  time  repudiat- 
ing ambition  and  the  lust  of  power,  and  declaring  that 
he  was  actuated  solely  by  the  desire  for  the  public  wel- 
fare and  the  salvation  of  humanity;  and  he  renewed  all 
the  protests  of  his  predecessor  against  the  secularisation 
of  the  states  of  the  Church. 

The  most  significant,  however,  of  all  the  utterances  of 
Leo  for  the  appreciation  of  his  personal  attitude,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  most  pregnant  of  consequences  by 
virtue  of  its  influence  upon  all  the  separate  churches,  is 
his  third  encyclical  (of  August  4,  1879).  This  encyclical 
made  the  philosophy  of  Thomas  Aquinas  the  foundation 
of  all  studies  in  schools  and  seminaries.  Even  this  did 
not  disturb  the  belief  of  the  liberal  press  in  the  peace- 
pope,    and    it    does    in    truth    require    somewhat    more 


The  Peace-Pope,  Leo  XIII.  195 

knowledge  of  ecclesiastical  history  than  newspaper  writers 
and  diplomats  usually  have  at  their  disposal  to  appreciate 
the  significance  of  the  Thomistic  system,  not  only  for  the- 
ology and  the  Church,  but  just  as  much  for  the  state  and 
for  society.  But  anybody  familiar  with  this  system 
knows  that  even  the  most  frantic  outbursts  of  Pius  IX, 
against  the  opponents  of  the  papal  principle  are  of  in- 
ferior significance  in  comparison  with  the  fact  that  the 
whole  future  generation,  as  far  as  the  influence  of  the 
Papacy  reached,  were  to  be  educated  in  views  which  with 
an  unsurpassed  consistency  preach  irreconcilable  war 
against  the  modern  world  of  ideas. 

Knowing  the  educational  methods  of  the  Jesuits,  one 
might  have  foreseen  that  their  habit  of  setting  up  the 
Thomistic  against  the  Kantian  system  would  be  made  a 
model  for  other  educational  institutions.  The  Dutch 
and  Belgian  Jesuits,  who  to-day,  as  in  the  first  century 
of  the  order,  count  among  their  number  the  real  leaders 
of  the  society,  had  long  ago  adopted  this  contrast  as  the 
central  point  of  their  instruction.  Thomas  Aquinas  had 
supplied  the  scholastic  foundation  of  papal  infallibility 
(upon  the  basis,  namely,  of  the  garbled  editions  of  the 
Church-fathers  which  Pope  Urban  IV.  had  sent  him); 
and  therefore  after  the  dogmatisation  of  the  infallibility 
it  was  really  only  a  question  of  time  that  the  teacher  of 
the  middle  ages  should  be  declared  prceceptor  urbis  et 
orbis  for  the  present  generation. 

Pius  IX.  was  too  much  engrossed  in  the  struggles  of 
the  moment  and  of  too  great  ignorance  —  an  ignorance 
strangely  interwoven  with  his  conceit  of  infallibility  —  to 
proceed  as  far  as  this.  But  his  prudent  successor  did  not 
wait  long  to  take  this  last  step.  Indeed,  his  third  en- 
cyclical was  the  necessary  consequence  of  the  second  and 
of  its  vilification  of  the  Reformation.  In  the  latter  the 
Reformation  had  been  made  the  mother  of  socialism,  and 
the  tottering  thrones  had  been  referred  to  the  rock  of 


196  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

Peter.  The  next  thing  was  to  anoint  with  fresh  oil  the 
alliance,  which  dominated  even  the  era  of  the  Restora- 
tion, between  spiritual  and  temporal  absolutism.  "What 
was  better  adapted  to  this  purpose  than  the  system  of 
Thomas,  which  guaranteed  to  the  princes  their  absolut- 
ism, if  they  only  placed  themselves  at  the  feet  of  the 
higher  authority  of  the  Papacy  ? 

This  political  purpose  was  acknowledged  without  any 
ambiguity  in  the  Thomas-encyclical  of  Leo:  "  Surely, 
families  and  civil  society  would  be  much  more  tranquil 
and  secure  if  in  the  academies  and  the  schools  a  healthier 
doctrine  and  one  more  consonant  to  ecclesiastical  dogma 
were  taught,  such  as  is  found  in  the  works  of  St.  Thomas." 
In  all  respects  this  system  was  to  furnish  that  which 
the  present  time  needed.  With  regard  to  philosophy, 
Thomas  has  once  for  all  set  at  rest  the  discord  between 
reason  and  faith.     For, 

while  he  has  strictly  sundered  reason  and  faith  and  yet  has 
kept  both  of  them  in  friendly  alliance,  he  has  preserved  the 
rights  and  exalted  the  dignity  of  both,  in  such  manner  that 
reason,  borne  by  the  wings  of  faith  to  the  summit  of  human 
power,  could  hardly  rise  higher,  and  that  faith  could  hardly 
expect  from  reason  more  frequent  and  stronger  aid  than  it  has 
obtained  through  Thomas. 

Even  greater  is  his  merit  in  behalf  of  natural  science. 
For, 

one  can  hardly  imagine  what  strength,  what  light,  what  aid 
this  philosophy  is  able  to  give,  especially  in  regard  to  the  nat- 
ural sciences.  It  is  a  matter  of  importance  to  repudiate  the 
wrong  which  has  been  done  to  this  philosophy  by  accusing  it 
of  putting  hindrances  in  the  way  of  progress  and  of  the 
growth  of  the  natural  sciences.  As  the  schoolmen  have  al- 
ways taught  in  the  science  of  anthropology  that  only  from 
material  things  can  the  human  mind  raise  itself  to  the  know- 
ledge of  those  things  which  are  not  bound  to  body  and  matter, 


The  Peace-Pope,  Leo  XIII.  197 

so  they  have  of  themselves  recognised  that  nothing  is  more 
useful  to  the  philosopher  than  to  search  the  secrets  of  nature 
and  to  occupy  himself  long  and  much  with  the  study  of 
physical  things. 

Nevertheless,  all  this  eulogy  of  St.  Thomas,  as  well  as 
all  the  compliments  paid  to  princes  and  statesmen,  to 
philosophers  and  naturalists,  in  the  last  instance  only 
serve  the  purposes  of  the  papal  monarchy  in  its  suppres- 
sion of  every  dissenting  view. 

The  carefully  selected  teachers  are  to  endeavour  to  infuse 
the  teachings  of  Thomas  into  the  minds  of  their  pupils  and  to 
explain  to  them  their  eminent  worth  and  excellence.  But 
from  those  books,  which  are  asserted  to  have  been  drawn 
from  the  fountain  of  St.  Thomas,  but  which  in  reality  have 
emanated  from  foreign  and  unwholesome  sources,  the  minds 
of  the  young  shall  by  your  efforts  be  guarded. 

This  reference  to  the  Index  was  calculated  to  prove 
how  little  the  Thomas-encyclical  of  Leo  was  meant  to  be 
only  a  matter  of  theory.  The  new  task  which  the  pope 
thus  imposed  upon  the  Church  was  immediately  under- 
taken. Father  Beckx,  the  general  of  the  Jesuits,  testified 
in  solemn  audience  the  gratitude  as  well  as  the  obedience 
of  the  society.  The  papal  communication  to  Cardinal  de 
Lucca  (of  October  15,  1879),  ordered  the  formation  of 
an  academical  association  and  of  an  official  edition  of 
Thomas'  works.  The  command  issued  from  Rome  im- 
mediately became  in  every  country  the  foundation  of  the 
entire  clerical  system  of  education.  For  Thomas  Aquinas 
became  the  standard  and  the  authority  not  only  for  the 
scholarship  of  the  Church  in  general,  but  for  the  entire 
system  of  education.  One  of  the  most  eminent  authori- 
ties on  the  Thomistic  system  has  pronounced  judgment 
in  the  following  words  upon  the  dangers  which  this  kind 
of  training  of  the  Catholic  youth  has  created  for  Christian 


198  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Ccntztry 

states :  "  Compared  with  the  struggles  which  then  become 
inevitable,  the  present  Kultiirkanipf  appears  only  as  a 
childish,  good-natured  prelude." 

For  Protestant  statesmen  and  the  great  mass  of  news- 
paper writers  even  this  encyclical  of  Leo  did  not  serve  as 
a  warning.  They  knew  neither  the  thorough  work  of 
the  Gottingen  philosopher  Baumann  concerning  Thomas' 
doctrine  of  the  state,  nor  Holtzmann's  striking  exposition 
of  its  practical  consequences.  It  was  futile  that  an  ec- 
clesiastical historian  of  original  research  like  Reinkens 
pointed  out  the  historical  contradictions  in  the  papal 
document,  and  that  a  philosopher  like  Knoodt  explained 
the  significance  of  Thomas  as  an  universal  teacher  in  his 
influence  upon  the  cause  of  Christian  learning.  The  un- 
welcome proofs  of  old-Catholic  scholars  only  increased 
the  desire  to  render  these  disagreeable  censors  harmless. 
And  the  priest-rule  which  had  invaded  the  Protestant 
ecclesiastical  administrations  once  more  did  its  best  to 
help  the  pope. 

We  have  considered  it  necessary  to  devote  a  somewhat 
detailed  consideration  to  the  Thomas-encyclical  as  fun- 
damentally the  most  important  measure  of  Leo.  But 
his  canonisations  are  of  no  less  pathological  interest. 
Joseph  Labre,  a  man  debased  by  indolence  and  filth,  was 
set  up  as  a  type  of  papal  piety.  In  the  year  1786,  the 
historian  Schlozer  wrote  that  this  "  wretched  stinking 
lazy  beggar  would  doubtless  be  put  on  the  calendar  as 
saint,  did  we  not  live  in  the  eighteenth  century."  In  the 
nineteenth  century  Labre  has  become  a  saint  in  good 
standing. 

Clara  of  Montefalco,  canonised  at  the  same  time,  en- 
joyed the  patronage  of  Leo  XIII.  much  as  the  immacu- 
late Virgin  Mary  enjoyed  that  of  Pius  IX.  Leo  declared 
in  his  address  upon  occasion  of  her  canonisation,  that  he 
remembered  with  joy  even  now  how  as  bishop  of  Imola 


The  Peace-Pope^  Leo  XIII.  199 

he  had  twice  visited  her  wonderful  relics,  and  how  he  had 
read  mass  before  the  altar  under  which  they  rested,  and 
added  these  emphatic  words:  "  Now  that  we  are  placed 
at  :he  head  of  the  universal  Church  our  veneration  for 
this  virgin  is  doubled,  our  trust  in  her  is  entire  and  per- 
fect," This  **  veneration  "  and  this  "  trust  "  of  the  pope 
were  founded  upon  the  more  than  wonderful  fact  that 
not  only  was  the  body  of  the  saint  well  preserved  since 
her  death  in  1308,  but  that  more  especially  her  heart  (as 
the  oope  testified  ex  cathedra)  showed  traces  of  the  in- 
struments of  the  passion.  Thus  favoured  by  the  highest 
authority,  this  virgin  was  of  course  accredited  by  a  par- 
ticularly large  number  of  miracles.  At  the  public  cele- 
braton  of  December  8,  1881  (which  on  account  of  the 
continued  "  imprisonment  of  the  pope"  took  place  for 
the  first  time  not  in  St.  Peter's  Church,  but  in  the  gallery 
connected  with  the  Vatican),  there  were  exhibited  twelve 
pictares,  of  which  six  treated  of  the  miracles  performed 
by  Clara,  while  only  two  fell  to  the  share  of  each  of  the 
other  saints  (Labre,  Giambattista  de  Rossi,  and  Lorence 
of  Brindisi). 

Such  was  the  attitude  of  the  pope  towards  modern 
culture,  and  analogous  thereto  was  the  position  he  as- 
sumed towards  the  modern  state,  founded  as  the  latter 
was  upon  equal  rights  for  all  its  members.  The  peace- 
pope  occupies  towards  the  state  an  attitude  of  almost 
greater  hostility  and  intolerance  than  his  immediate  pre- 
decessor. We  call  attention  in  this  respect  to  the  fourth 
encyclical  (February,  1880),  which  denies  to  the  state 
every  right  of  regulating  the  law  of  matrimony,  because 
this  belongs  only  to  the  Church.  To  this  encyclical  are 
traced  all  subsequent  attempts  to  curtail  the  rights  of 
other  churches  in  mixed  marriages. 

Even  more  unambiguous  in  the  expressions  it  gives  to 
the  papal  hopes  for  the  future,  is  the  encyclical  of  Sep- 
tember 17,  1882,  recommending  the  Franciscan  tertiaries. 


200  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

These  were  the  same  tertiaries  which  in  the  war  of 
Gregory  IX.  against  Frederic  II.  had  rendered  the  most 
valuable  services  to  the  Curia  in  stirring  up  the  masses. 
The  changes  of  the  laws  which  governed  this  order,  made 
under  the  authority  of  a  special  commission  of  cardirals 
in  June,  1883,  testified  to  the  special  value  which  Leo 
XIII.  placed  upon  the  organisation  of  clerical  secret  as- 
sociations among  the  laity.  New  indulgences  were  sub- 
stituted for  the  old,  "  such  as  accord  with  the  neecs  of 
the  nineteenth  century."  The  fourteenth  year  was  de- 
termined as  the  time  of  reception  into  the  order;  mar- 
ried women  were  obliged  to  obtain  the  consent  of  their 
husbands;  from  this  condition,  however,  the  father  con- 
fessor could  grant  dispensation.  The  members  are  strictly 
to  avoid  dangerous  books  and  newspapers;  a  special 
paragraph  exhorts  them  to  make  their  will  in  time. 
Special  visitors  are  appointed  to  watch  over  the  observ- 
ance of  the  rules  and  may  punish  and  expel  guilty 
members. 

In  all  the  negotiations  which  Leo  undertook  with  in- 
dividual states,  it  was  made  manifest  that  wherever  he 
yielded  in  matters  of  secondary  importance  this  vas 
always  done  with  the  reservation  that  the  opponent  ac- 
cepted all  other  hierarchical  pretensions  of  the  Curia.  In 
his  ability  in  making  the  diplomats  believe  that  the  policy 
of  the  Curia  was  inoffensive  he  surpassed  even  the  great 
master  Consalvi.  The  diplomats  again  lent  their  ear  to 
the  papal  insinuations;  and  not  even  in  the  era  of  the 
Restoration  after  the  Congress  of  Vienna,  or  in  the  period 
of  reaction  after  the  revolution  of  1848,  did  the  papal 
principle  find  more  compliant  adepts  than  it  did  now 
among  the  diplomats. 

Whence,  we  ask,  was  this  general  readiness  in  the  face 
of  all  the  teachings  of  history,  even  in  the  face  of  the 
very  manifestoes  of  the  pope,  this  readiness  to  accept 


The  Pcacc-Pope,  Leo  XIII.  201 

Leo  XIII.  as  the  peace-pope  ?  The  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion is  found  in  the  all-important  fact  that  now  again,  as 
in  the  days  of  Leo  XII.,  when  Bunsen,  with  his  far- 
sightedness, showed  how  the  Papacy  was  favoured  by 
the  tendency  of  the  times,  it  was  not  so  much  the  good 
or  evil  will  of  single  individuals,  but  it  was  the  general 
spirit  of  the  times  which  set  in  motion  the  current  to- 
wards the  Church  of  Rome. 

Let  us  consider  somewhat  more  carefully,  as  typical 
of  the  change  in  the  general  sentiment,  the  condition  of 
affairs  in  Germany.  Germany  had  been  severely  visited 
by  ecclesiastical  wars;  and  these  ecclesiastical  wars  had 
become  tedious  to  a  generation  accustomed  to  rapid  living 
and  devoted  to  material  interests.  How  could  one  ask 
men  who  had  practical  business  to  attend  to  that  they 
should  continue  to  "  plague  themselves  with  these  ec- 
clesiastical absurdities  "  ?  In  the  eyes  even  of  educated 
liberals  ecclesiastical  matters  were  only  the  concern  of 
stupid  peasants. 

On  the  other  hand,  whoever  has  traced  the  mutual 
relations  of  the  clerical  and  the  democratic  press  in  Ger- 
many with  any  attention,  must  have  been  struck  with 
the  arguments  which  the  Frankfurter  Zeitiing '  brought 
forward  to  neutralise  the  measures  of  defence  adopted  by 
the  state  against  the  Church.  Even  among  the  follow- 
ing of  Eugene  Richter,"*  for  whom  the  religious  problem 
for  a  time  had  a  certain  interest  as  a  part  of  the  Kultur- 
kampf,  antipathy  against  a  compactly  ordered  state  very 
soon  gained  the  upper  hand.  Just  as  happened  in  the 
year  of  revolution,  this  party  found  itself  repeatedly  side 
by  side  with  the  party  of  clericalism  in  its  war  upon  the 
authority  of  the  "  police-state." 

At  the  same  time,  "  Gambettism  "  in  France  was  cher- 
ishing thoughts  of  revenge,  and  the  German  government 

'  A  radical  sheet. 

*  The  leader  of  the  left  wing  of  the  radical  party. 


202  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

considered  only  the  political  necessity  of  hindering  a 
clerical  alliance  with  this  foreign  tendency,  while  it 
neglected  the  cares  of  its  own  household. 

The  pious  soul  of  the  emperor  was  disturbed  by  facts 
which  came  to  his  ears  designed  to  prove  that  the  war 
upon  the  Curia  was  becoming  a  war  upon  religion.  It  is 
true  that  clerical  zeal  played  a  large  part  in  the  collection 
and  preparation  of  such  facts.  But  it  is  no  less  true  that 
the  decade  after  the  war  with  France  was  also  the  decade 
of  Strauss'  Old  and  Nczv  Faith,  of  Hartmann's  Self-Dis- 
solution of  Christianity,  and  of  Hellwald's  pseudo-Darwin- 
istic  history  of  civilisation — to  name  only  the  most  eminent 
representatives  of  modern  naturalism.  At  all  times  has 
religious  nihilism  been  the  best  ally  of  clericalism.  And 
so  it  happened  this  time. 

There  followed  the  mania  of  crimes  which  fill  the  period 
of  social-democratic  and  political-nihilistic  revolution. 
The  attempts  on  the  emperor's  life  by  Hodel  and  Nobiling 
(1878)  followed  in  quick  succession,  and  in  their  wake 
came  that  epidemic  of  murderous  attacks  from  which 
hardly  one  of  the  crowned  heads  remained  spared  —  the 
kings  of  Italy  and  of  Spain  no  more  than  the  queen  of 
England.  Not  long  after,  the  nihilistic  era  in  Russia 
heaped  horror  upon  horror.  The  greater  the  concessions 
of  English  statesmen,  the  more  did  agrarian  murders  in 
Ireland  come  into  fashion.  Even  the  President  of  the 
United  States  succumbed  to  the  bullet  of  an  assassin. 
And  all  these  abominations  were  considered  in  large 
circles  as  triumphs  of  liberty,  as  meritorious  acts  in  be- 
half of  humanity  in  the  war  against  tyranny. 

It  is  one  of  the  chief  objects  of  the  present  work  to 
make  the  reader  understand  that  the  Papacy  owes  all  its 
triumphs,  which  largely  make  up  the  ecclesiastical  history 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  to  the  ever  recurring  revolu- 
tions of  this  century.     That  which  to-day  seems  a  comical 


The  Peace-Pope,  Leo  XIII.  203 

paradox  to  the  enlightened  Philistine,  the  future  will 
make  an  all  too  serious  reality.  From  the  convulsions  of 
the  great  French  Revolution,  through  the  great  changes 
of  1830  and  1848,  we  have  found  the  same  course  of 
events  again  and  again  repeated.  Can  we  therefore 
wonder  that  the  terrorism  of  the  international  revolution 
since  the  Paris  Commune  of  1871  has  again  led  to  the 
same  rotation  of  events  ? 

In  one  of  the  great  crises,  between  the  two  attempts 
upon  the  German  emperor's  life  by  Hodel  and  by  Nobil- 
ing,  there  appears  upon  the  scene  a  pope  who  is  counted 
among  the  wisest  of  all  wise  calculators  that  have  ever 
worn  the  tiara ; — a  man  who  began  his  spiritual  rule  with 
the  most  friendly  and  the  most  harmless  greetings  to  the 
state  governments; — who  so  feelingly  recorded  his  wish 
for  an  abrogation  of  abuses  and  disorders ; — who  presently 
offered  himself  as  an  ally  against  the  death-dealing  pest 
of  the  revolution.  Such  a  "  vicar  of  Christ  "  must  have 
appeared  to  anxious  souls  a  true  messenger  of  peace. 
Of  what  significance  were,  compared  with  his  promise  of 
help,  sundry  theoretical  differences  in  the  use  of  language  ? 
It  was  an  accepted  part  of  his  office  that  the  pope  should 
anathematise  the  Reformation,  as  well  as  that  he  should 
be  the  eulogist  of  the  good  old  times  of  the  middle  ages. 
But  this  style  of  the  Curia  was  well  known  as  an  innocent 
thing;  it  had  long  become  a  matter  of  habit  to  overlook 
this  sort  of  language  on  the  part  of  the  pope.  Now  as 
formerly  the  example  of  Niebuhr  was  considered  as  the 
proper  one  for  imitation.  Why  should  the  antiquated 
theories  which  "  it  was  so  easy  to  forgive  the  good  man  " 
prevent  one  from  grasping  the  hand,  now  proffered,  of  the 
long  and  ardently  longed  for  peace-pope  ? 

We  do  not  at  all  believe  that  in  this  hasty  picture  we 
have  recounted  all  the  factors  that  have  come  together  in 
the  legend  of  the  peace-pope  and  have  made  it  the  favour- 
ite dogma  of  newspaper  readers.     But  if  one  has  a  clear 


204  The  Papacy  hi  the  igth  Cejitury 

discernment  of  but  one  or  the  other  of  the  motives  which 
are  so  strangely  intermingled,  all  the  conquests  in  the 
various  countries,  which  actually  dropped  into  the  lap  of 
Leo,  cease  to  be  so  puzzling  as  at  the  first  glance  they 
seem  to  be. 

Let  us  begin  our  consideration  of  these  conquests,  just 
as  we  did  that  of  the  war  during  the  last  period  of  Pius 
IX.,  with  the  country  of  the  Papacy  itself,  with  Italy. 

A  careful  consideration  of  the  religious  condition  of 
Italy  will  afford  us  a  view  into  one  of  the  most  severe 
crises  of  civilisation  which  a  people  that  had  fallen  out 
with  the  augurs  of  its  religion  has  ever  had  to  pass 
through.  The  opposition  between  the  spiritual  life  of 
the  modern  world  and  the  influences  of  the  hierarchy, 
begun  at  the  restoration  of  Pius  VII.,  confirmed  through 
each  of  the  following  papal  reigns,  and  intensified  to  its 
climax  by  Pius  IX.,  was  nowhere  more  acute  than  in 
Italy.  Two  different  worlds,  on  the  one  side  the  satel- 
lites of  the  Papacy,  on  the  other  the  representatives  of 
the  popular  sentiment,  were  brought  together  on  the 
same  ground. 

It  has  been  said  of  France  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
that  under  the  dominion  of  the  Church  it  had  lost  re- 
ligion, and  the  same  may  be  said  even  more  truly  of  the 
Italy  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Scientific  research 
which  had  taken  a  magnificent  upward  start,  poetry 
which  is  cultivated  by  poet-heroes  of  giant  stature,  the 
newly  flourishing  schools  of  law  which  have  chosen 
modern  international  law  for  their  special  field,  indeed 
the  whole  national  life  as  such  occupies  not  only  an  in- 
different, but  mostly  an  hostile  attitude  towards  the  ec- 
clesiastical regime.  The  accustomed  Church  form  of 
piety  has  lost  its  magic  influence  over  the  younger  gener- 
ation ;  everywhere  we  meet  a  searching  after  something 
to  take  its  place,   and  yet  nothing  has  been  found  to 


The  Peace-Pope,  Leo  XIII.  205 

satisfy  the  religious  needs  of  this  people,  religiously  so 
sceptical  and  artistically  so  productive.  Neither  the 
enthusiastic  but  obscure  mysticism  of  the  national  hero 
Garibaldi,  nor  the  several  attempts  of  Gioberti,  Passaglia, 
and  so  many  others,  to  reconcile  Church  and  people, 
nor  the  missionary  labours  of  the  Protestant  churches, 
strangers  as  they  are  to  the  popular  heart,  have  been  able 
to  fill  the  empty  void.  The  tone-giving  classes  of  society 
are  hopelessly  estranged  from  the  Church,  and  alongside 
of  these  we  find  the  immense  mass  of  the  illiterate,  who 
with  the  majority  of  the  women  are  now  as  before  in  the 
hands  of  the  priests. 

So  long  as  Pius  IX.,  by  his  violent  language,  stirred 
up  the  minds  of  the  people,  the  hatred  of  the  Papacy 
thus  produced  overshadowed  all  other  party  divisions. 
The  wise  counsels  of  Curci  to  give  up  the  irrevocably 
lost  temporal  power  in  order  to  bring  the  people  who 
stood  in  need  of  their  old  Church  back  into  the  fold, 
were  spurned  with  contempt  while  Pius  lived.  But 
hardly  had  the  reign  of  Leo  begun, —  although  Curci  him- 
self was  still  officially  disavowed  and  was  even  obliged 
to  recant  his  own  written  defence — when  the  essence  of 
his  method  was  recognised  and  followed.  Theoretical 
protests  were  continued  as  before,  but  the  emphasis  was 
laid  upon  practical  ways  and  means  of  transforming  uni- 
versal suffrage  slowly  but  surely  into  a  tool  in  the  hands 
of  the  clergy.  The  immaturity  of  the  political  parties 
and  their  constant  war,  which  made  a  caricature  of  the 
parliamentary  system,  played  into  the  hands  of  the 
clerical  policy.  A  short-sighted  liberalism  poured  a  mass 
of  unpractical  measures  over  Italy,  as  it  had  done  else- 
where. The  dissolution  of  the  theological  faculties  in 
the  universities,  greeted  as  a  liberal  measure  of  progress, 
took  away  the  last  means  of  exerting  a  reconciling  in- 
fluence upon  the  education  of  the  clergy.  On  some  oc- 
casions, as  at  the  jubilee  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers  or  at  the 


2o6  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

erection  of  the  Arnold  monument  at  Brescia,  popular  in- 
dignation over  centuries  of  suppression  of  the  national 
spirit  by  the  hierarchy  might  find  a  pathetic  expression. 
But  nowhere  was  there  any  strong  organisation  opposed 
to  the  constant  subterranean  machinations  of  clerical 
demagogism. 

The  elections,  as  well  in  the  smaller  as  in  the  larger  cities 
(even  in  Florence),  have  already  made  the  local  magistrates 
dependent  upon  the  clergy.  It  can  be  but  a  question  of 
time  that  the  representation  of  the  people  and  therewith 
the  government  shall  fall  a  prey  to  the  same  fate.  Not 
until  then  will  there  be  fully  revealed  the  irreconcilable 
opposition  between  culture  and  the  Church.  But  even 
at  this  day  it  is  beyond  doubt  that  the  reign  of  Leo  XIII. 
measures  a  long  step  on  the  road  towards  the  new  sub- 
jugation of  the  popular  and  state  life  by  the  Church. 

What  in  Italy  is  a  prospect  of  the  future  has  in  Ger- 
many become  historical  fact.  For  here  the  fiction  of  a 
peace-pope  has  sown  the  seeds  of  much  more  serious  dis- 
orders than  all  the  former  reverses  of  the  state.  The 
situation  which  Leo  found  at  his  accession  we  have 
already  recognised  as  the  most  auspicious  conceivable. 
The  correspondence  which  he  opened  with  the  German 
emperor  was  interrupted  by  the  attempt  upon  the  latter's 
life  by  Nobiling.  To  the  papal  demand  for  a  change  of 
the  laws,  the  crown  prince  answered  on  June  lo,  1878, 
as  regent  in  the  name  of  the  emperor,  to  this  effect,  that 
no  Prussian  monarch  could  accede  to  such  a  demand  for 
changes  in  the  constitution  and  the  laws  of  the  land  ac- 
cording to  the  prescriptions  of  the  Roman  Church  ;  but — 
he  added  —  although  the  differences  of  a  thousand  years 
could  not  be  reconciled,  yet  the  manifestation  of  a  spirit 
of  conciliation  on  both  sides  was  not  thereby  excluded, 
and  ought  surely  to  open  for  Prussia  the  way  to  peace 
which  had  never  been  closed  to  other  states. 


The  Peace-Pope,  Leo  XIII.  207 

But  the  results  of  all  efforts  were  purely  negative. 
The  pope  would  not  accede  to  the  practical  application 
of  the  duty  of  reporting  nominations  to  Church  ofifices, 
although  he  himself  had  said  it  was  to  be  "tolerated" 
and  although  it  was  allowed  without  any  difificulty  in 
almost  all  other  countries. 

The  events  which  followed  show  a  reversal  of  the 
policy  hitherto  pursued  by  the  government.  In  1879 
Bismarck  made  an  alliance  with  the  clerical  party.  Falk 
resigned  from  the  ministry  of  public  worship.  Von 
Schlozer  was  sent  on  a  special  mission  to  Rome  to  open 
communication  with  the  Vatican  and  the  vacant  bishop- 
rics were  filled.  These  measures  mark  the  end  of  the 
Kulturkampf,  and  the  Vatican  remained  master  of  the 
field. 

The  most  remarkable  parallel  to  the  achievements  of 
the  first  years  of  Leo  XIII.  in  Germany  is  found  in  the 
Church's  progress  in  Switzerland.  The  letter  to  the 
federate  council,  in  which  the  pope  expressed  a  wish  for 
the  restoration  of  the  former  relations,  had  at  first  no 
direct  result.  A  political  and  religious  reaction  had, 
however,  set  in  in  Switzerland  and  elsewhere,  especially 
in  the  canton  of  Berne,  and  Leo  (here  as  everywhere 
carefully  calculating)  gave  to  the  Roman  Catholics  of  the 
Jura  permission,  which  before  had  been  denied  on  prin- 
ciple, to  take  part  in  Church  elections.  This  enabled  the 
leaders  of  the  clerical  party  to  take  their  stand  apparently 
upon  the  ecclesiastical  law  of  Berne  and  to  dominate  the 
liberal  faction.  The  cantonal  synod  of  Berne  itself  be- 
came in  this  manner  the  tool  of  the  Ultramontanes,  and 
the  newly  formed  state-Church  organisation  in  the  Jura 
came  to  a  premature  end. 

Italy,  Germany,  and  Switzerland  represent  those  states 
which,  whether  through  the  force  of  political  influences 


2o8  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

or  on  account  of  the  mixture  of  confessions  in  their  popu- 
lations, lived  in  a  state  of  continued  illusion  with  regard 
to  the  significance  of  the  papal  system,  and  as  a  conse- 
quence, the  peace-pope  everywhere  reaped  a  series  of  the 
most  important  triumphs. 

Very  few  events  in  the  history  of  the  modern  Papacy 
have  brought  to  it  greater  advantages  than  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Prussian  embassy  at  the  holy  see.*  The 
thoroughly  unnatural  character  of  this  political  represen- 
tation at  an  ecclesiastical  seat  of  authority  for  such  a 
state  as  Prussia  has  been  demonstrated  by  the  losses 
which  the  state  suffered  in  rapid  succession ;  and  the 
Curia  showed  a  masterly  proficiency  in  putting  to  good 
use  in  its  negotiations  with  other  powers  the  favours  re- 
ceived from  Prince  Bismarck  (which  in  the  clerical  press 
were  represented  as  a  manifestation  of  good-will  on  the 
part  of  the  holy  father  towards  the  hostile  state). 

As  in  the  era  of  Consalvi  and  his  concordats  one  state 
was  played  against  the  other,  so  now  the  acts  of  the  great 
German  statesman  were  held  up  as  a  model  before  the 
Russian,  the  English,  the  Swiss,  and  the  American  gov- 
ernments. Here  it  was  the  Irish,  there  the  Polish- 
nihilistic  troubles,  against  which  the  good  services  of  the 
Church  were  extolled  as  the  universal  remedy.  In 
Switzerland,  every  new  case  of  ofTficial  dishonesty  and 
every  form  of  social  evil  were  attributed  to  the  sins  of 
the  Kulturkampf.  The  vanity  of  young  America  was 
flattered  by  the  bestowal  of  cardinal's  and  chamberlain's 
titles  and  by  papal  blessings  upon  clerical  editors.  Above 
all  was  it  now  possible  to  frighten  the  Italian  state,  which 
was  being  undermined  by  the  Irredentists,  with  the  threat 
of  Bismarck's  help  towards  the  restoration  of  the  papal 
monarchy.  In  the  fall  of  1882,  a  much  discussed  article 
in  the  Berlin  Post  actually  placed  a  policy  of  this  nature 
in  view. 

'  See  page  207. 


The  Peace-Pope,  Leo  XIII.  209 

The  German  chancellor  was  obliged  to  subordinate  his 
relations  to  the  Curia  as  well  as  every  other  question  to 
the  purpose  of  securing  the  external  position  of  the 
young  empire  against  the  hidden  and  the  open  plans  of 
revenge  on  the  part  of  France.  His  accustomed  mastery 
on  his  own  ground  again  proved  itself  most  brilliantly  at 
the  very  time  that  the  Curia  counted  upon  his  aid  in  its 
plans  against  Italy.  As  just  before  the  French  war  of 
1870  the  secret  compacts  entered  into  after  the  war  of 
1866  with  the  South  German  states  were  made  known  to 
an  astonished  public,  so  there  now  loomed  up  unexpect- 
edly above  the  horizon  the  great  peace  alliance  between 
Germany,  Austria,  and  Italy. 

The  disappointment  which  the  Triple  Alliance  caused 
to  the  Curia  in  its  hopes  for  the  destruction  of  Italy  was 
presently  manifested  by  its  coquetting  with  France, 
which  was  allured  with  the  prospect  of  the  aid  of  "  the 
greatest  international  power,"  if  it  would  desist  from  its 
Kidtiirkampf,  and  by  the  reproaches  heaped  upon  Austria 
that  it  had  so  basely  repudiated  its  sacred  duty  at  all 
times  to  sacrifice  itself  for  the  holy  father.  The  same 
double  game  that  the  Curia  had  played  towards  Napoleon 
between  1859  ^"^^  1870  it  played  again  after  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Prussian  embassy,  by  putting  forward  its  poli- 
tical side  in  ecclesiastical  questions  and  its  ecclesiastical 
side  in  political  questions.  While  the  new  conservative 
Prussian  government  recognised  hardly  any  higher  obli- 
gation than  the  satisfaction  of  the  religious  needs  of  the 
Catholic  population,  and  to  secure  this  object  descended 
to  the  most  humiliating  and  inconsistent  conduct,  the 
policy  of  the  Curia,  aspiring  to  universal  dominion,  had 
more  important  ends  in  view  than  such  trivialities. 

The  sagacious  use  made  by  the  pope  of  the  Oriental 

crisis  appears  in  so  many  special  symptoms  that  it  must 

be  referred  to  a  separate  chapter.     But  our  survey  of  the 
14 


2IO  The  Papacy  171  the  igth  Centuiy 

policy  of  the  peace-pope  would  be  one-sided  did  we  not 
here  again  turn  the  reverse  of  the  medal  to  the  light. 
For  while  the  schismatic  and  heretical  nationalities,  as 
well  as  those  of  mixed  confessions,  were  more  and  more, 
long  before  they  suspected  it,  drawn  within  the  sphere  of 
power  of  the  Propaganda,  the  reverse  took  place  in  the 
territories  where  the  papal  system  had  before  held  undis- 
turbed sway  and  for  that  very  reason  had  already  become 
known  by  its  fruits.  The  very  countries  which  Pius  IX. 
in  his  struggle  against  Italy  and  Germany  regarded  as 
his  most  sure  support  refused  their  services  to  the  over- 
wise  policy  of  Leo  XIII, 

The  manifest  reverses  in  Belgium  and  France  may  be 
kept  ever  so  much  hidden  from  the  faithful, —  the  moral 
loss  cannot  be  denied.  In  France  the  Polish  nuncio 
Czacki  was  able  to  avoid  an  open  rupture,  and  since  the 
publication  of  the  Triple  Alliance  the  "  Catholic  inter- 
ests of  France  "  in  foreign  parts  have  been  more  than 
ever  emphasised.  On  the  other  hand,  Belgium  has  be- 
fore all  the  world  broken  off  its  diplomatic  relations  with 
the  Curia.  Not  long  after,  the  same  thing  happened  in 
the  most  aspiring  of  all  the  South  American  states  —  in 
Chili.  Even  in  the  most  devoted  of  the  papal  countries 
— in  Ireland, — where  Leo  had  long  overlooked  the  crimes 
committed  (which  in  effect  was  equal  to  a  direct  coun- 
tenancing of  them),  as  soon  as  he  expressed  a  mild 
condemnation,  the  threat  was  immediately  made  of 
"  boycotting  "  the  pope. 

To  make  up  for  this,  Colombia  has  received  a  new 
papal  nuncio,  since  whose  arrival  the  religious  exercises 
on  the  streets  have  increased  to  an  extraordinary  degree. 
And  whoever  from  the  central  point  of  the  Vatican  at- 
tempts to  survey  the  universal  field  can  hardly  fail  of  the 
conclusion  that  the  reign  of  the  peace-pope  has  not  by 
any  means  reached  the  zenith  of  its  achievements. 
[Written  in  1889.] 


CHAPTER    XIV 


THE   PAPACY   AND   THE   ORIENTAL   CRISIS 


THE  unheard-of  and  unhoped-for  triumphs  which  it 
achieved  in  the  German  Ktdturkavipf  justly  sur- 
passed in  the  eyes  of  the  Curia  all  other  victories  and 
were  extolled  in  every  key  by  the  official  papers.  They 
took  particular  pleasure  in  comparing  the  result  of  the 
modern  struggle  in  Germany  with  the  end  of  Frederic 
Barbarossa.  And  it  was  made  sufficiently  manifest  that 
they  hoped  the  subsequent  phases  of  the  Hohenstaufen 
epoch  might  be  repeated.  Indeed,  the  hatred  with  which 
the  popes  of  the  middle  ages  persecuted  the  house  of 
Hohenstaufen  appeared  insignificant  compared  with  the 
language  now  used  by  the  curialists  against  the  Prussian 
state  and  its  dynasty,  where  the  press  was  free  to  express 
its  opinion,  as  in  Switzerland  and  Holland. 

The  triumph  achieved  in  the  young  German  empire 
has  exerted  an  incalculable  influence.  But  in  the  eyes 
of  the  Papacy  the  German  empire  forms  after  all  only  a 
fraction  in  its  all-embracing  calculation.  Only  the  Curia 
knows  by  what  powerful  material  means  it  is  to-day  sup- 
ported in  the  great  republic  beyond  the  ocean,  or  what 
advantage  it  is  destined  to  derive  from  the  constant  con- 
spiracies in  Ireland  and  the  ever-renewed  conversions 
among  the  upper  ten-thousand  in  England.  The  ancient 
cradle  of  European  liberty  in  the  Netherlands  stands  on 
ground  that  is  already  undermined.      And  already  the 


212  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

press  of  the  Propaganda  proclaims  with  rejoicing  that 
Denmark  and  Norway  and  Sweden  are  beginning  again 
to  become  "  CathoHc." 

Nevertheless  all  that  has  been  achieved  in  American 
and  European  countries,  which  once  were  counted  the 
supports  of  Protestantism,  is  insignificant  in  comparison 
with  what  has  been  set  on  foot  in  the  East,  and  with  the 
concessions  which  since  the  Congress  of  Berlin  the  diplo- 
mats have  made  to  the  Curia. 

Let  us  first  make  clear  to  ourselves  the  steps  which, 
since  its  restoration,  the  Papacy  has  taken  towards  the 
solution  of  the  Oriental  question  in  its  own  sense.  Con- 
salvi  himself  was  not  content  with  distributing  in  the 
several  European  countries  the  inflammable  material 
which  was  intended  to  undermine  one  state  after  another 
and  make  it  pliant  to  the  pretensions  of  papalism.  The 
lecture  which  he  gave  to  the  successor  of  Pius  VII.' 
proves  to  what  extent  even  he  had  fixed  his  eye  upon 
the  remote  East. 

Neither  Leo  XII.  nor  Pius  VIII.  nor  Gregory  XVI., 
in  spite  of  all  that  occupied  them  nearer  home,  left  out 
of  consideration  the  schismatic  Oriental  churches.  Al- 
most every  year  the  Propaganda  occupied  new  stations 
in  the  East.  The  rapid  increase  in  the  orders  offered 
useful  instruments  in  plenty.  The  Jesuits  especially  have 
been  able  to  win  positions  all  over  Asia,  by  direct  and  in- 
direct means,  in  ways  similar  to  those  by  which  the  first 
generation  of  the  old  order  drew  India  and  China  and 
Japan  within  their  sphere.  Just  as  the  inquisition  at 
Goa,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  extirpated  the  Thomas- 
Christians  of  India  (the  Nestorians  of  those  parts)  who 
had  dared  to  defend  their  independence,  so  the  mountain 
tribes  of  the  Nestorians  have  in  our  century  been  for  the 
most  part  annihilated. 

^  See  page  71. 


The  Papacy  and  the  Oriental  Crisis        2 1 3 

From  the  same  Mosul,  where  the  plans  against  the 
Nestorians  had  been  prepared,  the  Roman  outposts  have 
spread  themselves  over  the  most  remote  parts  of  inner 
Asia.  The  large  number  of  settlements  of  religious 
orders  in  Syria  and  the  strong  colonies  of  monks  in 
Egypt,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  wretched  condition  of 
the  Oriental  churches,  heavily  oppressed  by  the  state- 
system,  leave  no  room  for  any  illusions.  Even  in  Pales- 
tine, where  the  Greek  Church,  supported  by  Russian 
means,  had  its  securest  position,  and  where  even  the 
Evangelical  mission  had  the  advantage  of  the  Roman,  the 
latter  has  more  and  more  outstripped  its  rivals. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  Pius  IX.  was  the  installation  of 
a  Latin  patriarch  in  Jerusalem  in  opposition  to  the  Greek 
and  the  Evangelical  bishops.  The  same  pope  issued  the 
bull  Reversiirus  to  cripple  the  independence  of  the  United 
Armenians  ' ;  and  the  patriarch  of  Babylon  learned  at  the 
Council  of  the  Vatican  how  much  the  Jacobites  had  ta 
submit  to  from  the  pope. 

The  wisely  calculating  and  indefatigable  tactics  of  LeO' 
XIII.  tended  greatly  to  the  exploitation  of  the  Oriental 
crisis  in  the  interests  of  the  Papacy.  For  the  reign  of 
Leo,  even  in  its  first  years,  has  done  more  than  all  his 
predecessors  in  distributing  the  forces  for  the  approach- 
ing world-conflict  around  Constantinople.  One  cannot 
fail  to  see  that  in  Rome  the  time  was  considered  to  have 
come  for  playing  the  cards  that  had  hitherto  been  kept 
concealed.  From  the  invitation  given  to  the  Slavic 
churches  to  adopt  the  faith  in  the  infallible  pope,  down 
to  the  so-called  restoration  of  the  patriarchate  of  Alex- 
andria—  again  with  disregard  of  the  rightful  holder  of 
this  dignity  —  a  long  series  of  papal  measures  affecting 
the  East  has  come  to  our  knowledge. 

The  papal  bull  concerning  the  adoration  of  the  ancient 

'  The  ancient  Christian  Church  of  Armenia. 


2  14  ^^^  Papacy  in  the  igtJi  Century 

apostles  to  the  Slaves,  Methodius  and  Cyrillus,  openly- 
expressed  the  hope  that  under  their  patronage  the  schis- 
matical  churches  of  the  East  might  be  brought  under  the 
obedience  of  the  Papacy.  It  was  for  the  purpose  of 
playing  the  part  of  leader  in  this  struggle  that  the  Cro- 
atian bishop  Strossmayer  did  penance  for  his  opposition 
at  the  Vatican  Council.  His  pastoral  letters  concerning 
the  necessity  of  a  union  of  the  Slavic  churches  with 
Rome  sought  to  make  the  liturgy  serviceable  to  this  end. 
Not  yet  is  all  opposition  overcome.  The  national  jeal- 
ousy of  the  Croats  among  the  Serbs  prompted  the  arch- 
bishop of  Agram  in  1882  to  order  the  giving  up  of  the 
celebration  which  Strossmayer  had  appointed  in  Dia- 
kovar  for  the  5th  of  June  (the  day  of  the  apostles  to  the 
Slaves).  Not  yet  is  all  remembrance  of  the  mission  of 
Methodius  and  Cyrillus,  which  originally  proceeded  from 
the  Greek  Church  and  which  only  after  long  opposition 
yielded  to  Roman  oppression,  obliterated  from  the  pop- 
ular mind.  But,  aided  by  its  silent  allies  in  the  Austrian 
bureaucracy,  the  papal  Propaganda  gains  one  parish  after 
another.  And  nowhere  is  any  compact  organisation 
opposed  to  it. 

Great  as  is  the  importance  of  Strossmayer's  activity  in 
Croatia,  officially  sanctioned  by  Leo  XIII.,  Galicia  is 
even  more  important  for  forming  a  judgment  upon  the 
operations  of  the  Curia.  Long  has  the  Society  of  Jesus 
attempted  to  undermine  the  Russian  Church  from  Galicia 
as  a  basis.'  In  this  quarter,  also,  the  time  has  come  for 
an  open  advance.  On  the  15th  of  June,  1882,  the  mon- 
asteries and  the  property  of  the  Ruthenian  order  of  Ba- 
silians  were  delivered  over  to  the  Jesuits.  This  was  done 
by  means  of  a  coup  d'etat,  such  as  the  Society  of  Jesus 

'  The  Galicians  are  made  up  of  Poles  who  are  Roman  Catholic,  and 
Ruthenians,  who  belong  to  the  United  Greeks,  a  branch  of  the  Greek 
Church  which  acknowledges  the  supremacy  of  the  pope. 


The  Papacy  and  the  Oriental  Crisis        2 1 5 

frequently  resorts  to  in  its  dealings  with  other  corpora- 
tions. The  same  papal  bull  that  sanctioned  this  shameful 
breach  of  law  prescribed  the  erection  of  a  central  institu- 
tion for  the  training  of  novices  in  the  monastery  of  Do- 
bromil,  in  which  Catholics  of  the  Latin  rite  are  received 
and  at  the  same  time  are  given  permission  to  accept  the 
Greek  rite;  the  pope  thereby  sanctioning  the  "  dispensa- 
tion from  the  public  exercises  of  religion  "  for  which  the 
Swiss  convert  Haller  and  the  murderer  of  William  of 
Orange,  Balthasar  Gerard,  received  secret  absolution. 

All  preparations  had  been  secretly  made  to  render  the 
enemy  quite  defenceless  against  this  sudden  attack.  As 
the  only  Greek  Catholic  order  and  of  great  influence  up- 
on the  Ruthenian  and  the  neighbouring  Russian  popula- 
tion, the  Basilians  had  long  been  a  thorn  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Jesuits.  A  provincial  of  the  Basilians,  by  the  name 
of  Farnicki,  was  employed  as  a  tool  for  the  suppression 
of  the  order  and  the  spoliation  of  its  goods.  He  asked 
for  reforms  from  the  pope.  The  kind  of  "  reform  "  in 
which  the  Latin  monasteries  of  Galicia  were  superior  to 
the  Greek  was  shown  in  the  year  1869  by  the  legal  action 
of  Barbara  Ubryk  in  Cracow.  But  without  any  more  ado 
the  apostolic  letter  of  Leo  ordered  the  surrender  of  the 
Basilian  monasteries  to  the  order  of  Loyola.  They  ap- 
plied to  the  government  for  redress.  But  Vienna  had 
forgotten  the  proverbially  approved  faith  and  loyalty  of 
the  Ruthenians.  The  Polish  national  hatred  of  the  Ru- 
thenians  dictated  the  answer,  that  "  the  government 
found  no  occasion  for  intervention,  because  the  ecclesi- 
astical reform  in  question  had  been  carried  out  by  the 
supreme  authority  of  the  Church,  in  agreement  with  the 
supreme  authority  of  the  state." 

The  metropolitan  Sembratowicz  of  Lemberg  (in  Ga- 
licia) continued  to  oppose  the  measure.  He  was  soon 
after  set  aside  and  supplanted  by  a  Roman-Polish  coad- 
jutor.    Afterwards  he  was  superseded  by  a  successor  of 


2i6  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

the  same  name,  and  the  first  pastoral  of  the  latter  ex- 
horted his  people  to  obedience  to  the  holy  father,  to 
whom  they  owed  so  much  gratitude,  and  to  union  with 
the  Polish  "  brothers." 

So  much  we  know  from  facts  that  have  reached  the 
public.  A  correspondent  of  one  of  the  organs  which 
zealously  seconds  the  contemporary  Oriental  policy  of 
Austria  (the  Kolnische  Zcitung')  has  gone  so  far  as  to 
assert  that  "  the  Greek  Catholic  Church  is  being  offered 
as  a  sacrifice  to  the  alliance  of  the  Hapsburgs  with  the 
Latin  Church."  In  the  eyes  of  the  Curia  the  so-called 
union  of  the  United  Greeks  with  Rome  has  never  been 
considered  otherwise  than  as  a  transition  to  their  com- 
plete subjection.  And  the  champions  of  this  union 
themselves  are  no  longer  able  to  deny  that  this  object 
is  in  view.  In  January,  1883,  Provost  Naumowicz  ad- 
dressed his  celebrated  memorial  to  the  pope,  in  which 
the  union  of  the  Greek  Catholic  Church  with  Rome  is 
declared  to  be  impracticable  for  the  future.  In  a  letter, 
written  at  this  time,  to  the  Vienna  Allgemeine  Zeitunghe 
complains  of  "  the  truly  incredible  intrigues  of  the  Jesu- 
its," which  call  to  mind  the  methods  of  the  Inquisition. 

In  Bosnia,  the  Roman  Propaganda  derived  the  greatest 
possible  advantage  from  the  Austrian  occupation.'  A 
system  of  oppression  of  the  Oriental  Church  in  favour  of 
the  Latin  was  immediately  begun.  Ecclesiastical  ques- 
tions played  a  prominent  part  among  the  causes  of  the 
insurrection  of  1881.  Since  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1883  interesting  stories  have  been  told  of  a  so-called 
"  auxiliary  association  for  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina," 
which  has  gained  many  members  among  the  clerically 
disposed  section  of  the  aristocracy  in  Austria.  The  Ult- 
ramontane newspaper  Vaterland,  in  Vienna,  has  declared 
the    purpose    of  this    apparently    innocent    association 

'  After  the  treaty  of  Berlin  in  1878. 


The  Papacy  and  the  Orieiital  Crisis        217 

to  be  the  "bringing  back"  of  the  adherents  of  the 
Greek  CathoHc  Church  in  the  occupied  provinces  to 
"  Catholicism." 

Roman  agitation,  under  the  wings  of  Austrian  diplo- 
macy, has  extended  as  far  as  Servia,  where  it  caused  the 
overthrow  of  the  national  ministry  Ristic,  after  which 
young  king  Milan  deposed  the  Servian  metropolitan. 
Almost  as  much  has  in  the  last  years  been  accomplished 
by  the  Papacy  in  Roumania;  while  the  advance  of  the 
papal  interests  in  Bulgaria  cannot  be  even  approximately 
calculated  since  the  Roman  emissaries  succeeded  in  bring- 
ing about  the  Bulgarian  schism.  The  Curia  appears  so 
sure  of  its  success  that  it  no  longer  considers  it  necessary, 
as  heretofore,  to  throw  a  veil  over  its  proceedings.  The 
Osservatore  Romafio  has  made  the  following  announcement 
(November,  1882): 

As  the  first  practical  result  of  the  latest  pastoral  visit  of  Mgr. 
Vanutelli,  apostolical  delegate  and  patriarchal  vicar  in  Con- 
stantinople, we  publish  the  joyful  news  that  an  entire  Bulgarian 
village,  Allihodoilona,  consisting  of  seventy  families,  has  been 
converted  to  Catholicism.  We  have  every  hope  that  this  con- 
version will  be  followed  by  others,  and  that  perhaps  the  time 
is  not  distant  when  the  whole  Bulgarian  nation  shall  return  to 
the  Catholic  faith.  Such  an  event,  to  realise  which  without 
doubt  all  the  efforts  of  the  holy  see  are  bent,  will  undoubtedly 
exert  a  wholesome  influence  upon  the  future  of  the  Bulgarian 
nation,  upon  its  political  fortunes,  and  upon  its  civilisation. 

In  Turkey  itself  the  papal  gains  are  even  greater  than 
in  the  countries  separated  from  Turkey.  Not  for  nothing 
had  Pius  taken  the  part  of  the  crescent  in  the  war  of 
Russia  against  Turkey :  his  reward  was,  among  others, 
the  violent  suppression  of  the  party  inimical  to  the 
Papacy,  the  anti-Hassun  faction  of  the  Armenians.  And 
Leo  XIII.  has  been  no  less  active  in  this  direction  than 
his   predecessor.       At    the   time   that    the    "Armenian 


2i8  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Ce7itury 

question  "  was  again  brought  before  the  public  by  Eng- 
land, a  brief  of  Leo  (February,  1883)  ordered  the  erection 
of  an  Armenian  college  in  Rome.  The  patriarch  Hassun 
was  nominated  as  the  first  patron  of  this  college;  the 
pupils  were  to  be  selected  by  the  bishops  out  of  their 
dioceses  and  sent  to  Rome. 

At  the  same  time  clerical  emissaries  from  Bosnia  are 
labouring  for  the  further  extension  of  the  Austrian- 
Roman  occupation.  Repeatedly  have  reports  come  from 
Scutari  that  the  former  members  of  the  Albanian  league 
and  other  prominent  Albanians  have  addressed  to  the 
emperor  a  request  to  occupy  Turkish  Albania  with  Aus- 
tro-Hungarian  troops. 

The  Slavic-Roman  Propaganda,  which  is  everywhere 
planning  further  inroads  into  the  domain  of  the  Greek 
Church,  is  here  as  elsewhere  favoured  by  the  results  of 
the  last  Oriental  war  to  such  an  extent  that  it  already 
considers  the  game  won.  Vienna  is  influenced  by  the 
political  motive  of  holding  the  orthodox  Montenegrins 
in  check  by  means  of  the  "  Catholic  "  Albanians. 

As  long  as  the  realisation  of  national  unity  in  Italy  and 
in  Germany  was  prevented  by  force,  a  lasting  peace  in 
Central  Europe  was  impossible.  Does  not  this  experience 
point  the  way  to  the  only  natural  solution  of  the  Oriental 
crisis  ?  But  while  the  papal  diplomacy,  opposing  itself 
to  this  natural  solution,  has  kept  its  end  steadfastly  in 
view,  German  newspaper  readers  have  been  instructed  in 
the  wisdom  of  the  policy  of  patching  up  the  Turkish 
state,  although  it  is  evidently  doomed  to  dissolution.  In 
order  to  further  the  plans  of  the  Papacy,  German  and 
Russian  interests  have  been  represented  as  irreconcilable 
— contrary  to  fact.  Attempts  were  systematically  made 
to  foment  a  war  between  Germany  and  Russia.  In  alli- 
ance with  the  Polish  emigration,  Vambery  and  his  Mag- 
yarised  Jewish  associates  have  repeatedly  sought  to  incite 


The  Papacy  and  tlic  Oriental  Crisis        219 

the  English  against  Russia.  The  more  far-sighted  meas- 
ures which  Gladstone  had  in  view  were  covered  with 
ridicule  by  the  German  papers.  Bollinger's  sober  refer- 
ences to  what  was  brewing  in  the  far  East  were  treated 
no  better.  They  were  considered  the  fixed  ideas  of  a 
childish  old  man.  The  fact  lay  far  beyond  the  compre- 
hension of  the  wise  men  of  the  day  that,  unless  a  decided 
change  took  place,  the  Papacy  must  triumph  in  the  East- 
as  it  had  triumphed  in  the  West. 

Throughout  the  unnatural  evolution  of  European  his- 
tory, before  the  solution  of  the  German  and  Italian  ques- 
tions, we  have  everywhere  been  led  back  to  one  and  the 
same  point  of  departure:  the  Congress  of  Vienna,  devot- 
ing its  energies  to  the  policy  of  papal  restoration.  To- 
day we  ask  ourselves  this  question:  Will  not  the  coming 
generation  pronounce  a  similar  judgment  upon  the  con- 
sequences which  have  followed  upon  the  Congress  of 
Berlin  ?  If  we  examine  without  bias  such  results  of  this 
congress  as  are  already  manifest,  we  shall  again  see  the 
chief  advantage  fall  to  the  Curia. 

The  official  organs  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  press  assert 
more  and  more  openly  that  the  great  future  task  of  this 
state  is,  marching  under  the  banner  of  the  Roman  Papacy, 
to  conquer  the  ground  from  under  the  Oriental  schism, 
supported  as  it  is  by  Russia.  In  proportion  as  the  Ger- 
man element  in  Austria  is  sacrificed  to  the  Czechs  and 
Poles,  to  the  Slovenes  and  Magyars,  the  more  clearly 
appears  the  idea  of  the  future  which  dominates  the 
Roman  Catholic  Slave  and  Magyar  state.  At  the  settle- 
ment of  the  concordat  with  the  Curia  it  was  asserted  that 
the  many-tongued  state  stood  in  need  of  an  ecclesiastical 
cement,  and  now  the  good-will  of  the  pope  is  expected 
to  secure  to  Austria  the  dominion  of  the  East. 

The  consequences  of  the  concordat  were  made  mani- 
fest in  the  years  1859  ^"^  1866.  Austria,  as  long  as  it 
followed  the  leading  ideas  of  Joseph  II.,  fought  its  way 


2  20  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

through  all  the  struggles  of  the  Revolution  to  a  glorious 
victory  over  the  emperor  of  the  Revolution.  The  Aus- 
tria of  the  concordat,  on  the  other  hand,  reaped  at  Sol- 
ferino  and  Koniggratz  the  harvest  of  its  priestly  rule. 
And  to-day,  Austria's  confidence  in  the  help  of  the  Curia 
is  doomed  to  disappointment ;  for  whoever  in  the  Balkan 
peninsula  marches  under  the  banner  of  the  Papacy  will 
never  win  the  heart  of  Servian  or  Roumanian,  of  Bul- 
garian or  Greek. 

What  for  Austria  has  been  a  distant  fear  to  far-seeing 
patriots,  has  become  for  Russia  a  melancholy  fact.  After 
a  bloody  war  with  Turkey,  in  which  the  most  terrible 
sacrifices  were  made,  came  a  peace  which  gave  Cyprus  to 
the  one  rival  for  the  dominion  of  Constantinople,  Bosnia 
to  the  other.  It  is  surely  not  surprising  that  the  embit- 
terment  produced  by  such  a  result  played  into  the  hands 
of  the  revolutionary  party.  For  here  too  we  must  look 
to  the  violent  suppression  of  natural  forces  for  the  cause 
of  the  volcanic  eruption.  As  in  the  aspiration  for  unity 
in  Italy  and  in  Germany,  so  in  the  rising  national  instinct 
of  the  Russian  people  there  had  been  a  natural  force, 
which  was  not  understood  by  the  politicians  who  over 
commercial  interests  and  exchange  speculations  forget 
that  nations  no  more  than  individuals  live  from  bread 
alone.  No  more  did  they  understand  that  the  restora- 
tion of  an  Oriental  Catholicism,  cherished  by  a  whole 
people,  was  a  higher  ideal  than  that  represented  by  the 
hierarchical  artifices  of  the  Papacy.  And  so  the  Papacy 
won  its  victory,  and  as  a  consequence  we  have  witnessed 
in  Russia  the  fall  from  the  height  of  an  enthusiastic  pop- 
ular faith  into  the  abyss  of  nihilism. 

In  the  survey  of  the  Oriental  crisis  the  horrors  com- 
mitted by  the  nihilists  come  under  our  consideration 
only  so  far  as  their  authors  have  sapped  the  health  and 
strength  of  their  own  country.  The  crises  of  the  un- 
happy country  are  still  on  the  increase.    Almost  every  new 


The  Papacy  and  the  Oriental  Crisis        221 

chemical  discovery  has  put  new  weapons  into  the  hands 
of  the  heroes  of  dynamite.  Those  unfortunates  who 
sacrificed  themselves  for  their  crimes  were  utterly  unable 
to  understand  that  no  popular  welfare  can  grow  out  of 
revolutionary  deeds  of  terror.  In  the  meantime,  the 
moral  force  of  the  state  has  been  more  and  more  weak- 
ened. And  who  profited  by  this  but  the  ever-watchful 
Papacy  ?  The  same  year,  1882,  in  which  the  Basilian 
monasteries  of  Galicia  were  sequestered  by  an  arbitrary 
papal  act,  saw  the  "  compact  of  peace  "  between  Russia 
and  the  Vatican.  The  six  articles  of  the  compact  com- 
prehended nothing  but  concessions  made  by  the  state  to 
the  Curia,  to  whose  tender  mercies  even  the  United 
Greek  Church  was  given  over. 

Russia  demoralised  in  its  vital  parts,  Austria  aspiring 
to  oppose  the  papal  banner  to  the  Greek  cross,  France 
following  the  traditional  policy  of  supporting  its  "  Cath- 
olic mission  "  in  the  East,  Italy  internally  and  externally 
crippled  by  Roman  priests,  Greece  an  untimely  birth  to 
begin  with, — who  can  be  surprised  that  the  papal  policy 
is  emboldened  in  its  attempt  to  solve  the  Oriental  ques- 
tion in  its  own  sense  ? 

But  how  few  of  those  politicians  who  can  accurately 
weigh  all  external  factors  have  an  eye  for  the  religious- 
ecclesiastical  forces  which  in  this  Oriental  question  play  a 
more  important  part  than  anywhere  else  ?  Who  remem- 
bers to-day  that  it  was  the  provocation  of  the  French 
Jesuits  among  the  Maronites  which  led  to  the  Syrian 
butchery  of  i860  ?  Other  questions  have  caused  it  to  be 
forgotten  that  the  cause  of  the  Crimean  war  grew  out  of 
the  question  of  the  holy  places. 

As  often  as  the  French  government  pleases  to  empha- 
sise the  "  Catholic  interests  "  of  France  in  the  East,  the 
other  great  powers  simply  stand  aside.  This  was  seen  in 
the  destruction  of   the  national    faction  of   the  United 


2  22  The  Papacy  hi  the  igth  Century 

Armenians ;  it  was  again  seen  ten  years  later  in  connection 
with  the  vice-royalty  of  Syria.  Under  the  moderate 
and  energetic  Rustem  Pasha  the  long  and  sorely  visited 
province  enjoyed  some  years  of  peace,  France  demanded 
his  recall.  The  demand  was  conceded.  Rustem  was 
obliged  to  yield  his  place  to  the  "  Catholic"  Wassa 
Pasha.  There  is  a  deep  significance  in  this:  for  Syria 
and  Palestine  are  the  most  important  battle-fields  in  the 
ever-recurring  struggle  between  the  Greek  mother-Church 
and  papal  usurpation.  Neither  Wittenberg  nor  Geneva, 
neither  Dordrecht  nor  Westminster,  possess  over  against 
the  name  of  Rome  any  such  moral  power  as  there  is  in 
the  name  of  Jerusalem. 

Human  foresight  cannot  foretell  what  will  be  the  future 
phases  of  the  Oriental  crisis.  The  craftily  woven  nets 
may  suddenly  break.  The  history  of  the  Jesuit  order  is 
made  up  of  a  remarkable  combination  of  high-flying  plans 
and  sudden  defeats.  For  the  present  only  one  thing  is 
certain :  that  the  curialistic  policy  is  operating  in  the 
East  with  the  same  far-seeing  calculation  with  which  it 
had  long  before  the  event  spun  its  threads  for  the  Vati- 
can Council,  and  that,  as  with  the  council,  so  now  it 
thinks  it  can  count  upon  opponents  who  are  unprepared 
and  in  disagreement  among  themselves.  Perhaps  Glad- 
stone's Egyptian  expedition  will  give  a  new  shape  to  the 
complicated  situation  on  its  ecclesiastical  side  as  well  as 
the  political.     [Written  in  1889.] 


CHAPTER   XV 


THE  INFALLIBLE  PAPACY  IN  ITS  RELATIONS  TO  SOCIETY, 
TO    LEARNING,    AND   TO    RELIGION 

OUR  survey  of  the  history  of  the  Papacy  since  the 
Restoration  has  shown  us  a  continuous  growth  of 
power.  While  it  is  true  that  hitherto  no  princes  have  been 
deposed  as  in  the  middle  ages,  that  heretical  nations 
have  not  been  extirpated  by  crusades,  and  that  the  In- 
quisition has  not  been  set  to  work  as  in  the  time  of  the 
counter-reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century,  yet  this 
difference,  due  to  modern  progress,  is  only  formal.  All 
former  pretensions  of  the  Papacy  have  remained  the 
same.  It  is  considered  a  damnable  error  to  suppose  that 
by  deposition,  crusade,  and  Inquisition  the  Papacy  has 
ever  exceeded  its  prerogatives.  The  popes  of  our  own 
century  have  declared  laws  of  the  state  which  demand 
equal  rights  for  all  subjects  to  be  null  and  void ;  and  re- 
calcitrant peoples  have  been  coerced  by  a  new  kind  of 
interdict.  The  same  papal  principle  which  created  the 
Inquisition  has  sworn  irreconcilable  war  upon  the  modern 
ideas  of  freedom  of  faith  and  of  conscience,  and  has 
claimed  as  a  divine  right  the  supremacy  over  all  baptised 
people. 

The  tone  assumed  in  papal  allocutions  and  encyclicals 
is  at  present  more  one  of  lamentation  over  the  hindrances 
that  now  restrict  the  exercise  of  this  divine  right  than 
of  joy  over  what  it  has  achieved.     But  a  calm  review  of 

223 


2  24  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

the  triumphs  won  by  the  Papacy  forces  upon  us  the  con- 
clusion that  they  are  simply  preliminary  successes,  that  far 
greater  triumphs  are  bound  to  follow.  As  to  the  remoter 
consequences  of  the  infallibility-dogma,  we  get  very 
clear  ideas  of  what  will  inevitably  happen  from  the  writ- 
ten opinions  of  the  minority  bishops  during  the  council. 
And  the  decade  that  has  since  elapsed  has  only  confirmed 
their  forebodings.  The  seeds  sown  from  land  to  land 
are  even  now  ripening. 

The  historian  of  the  future,  unlike  the  historian  of  the 
present,  will  have  to  deal  not  with  a  Papacy  which  aspires 
to  infallibility,  but  with  a  Papacy  which  has  attained 
infallibility.  What  is  its  relation  to  Society,  to  Learning, 
and  to  Religion  ?  By  what  means  has  it  been  enabled 
to  lay  a  ban  upon  one  and  the  other,  to  a  degree  not 
thought  of  even  by  Gregory  VII.  and  Innocent  III.  ? 
Let  us  consider,  first,  the  relation  of  an  infallible  Papacy 
to  Society. 

Whoever  compares  the  means  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Papacy  with  those  of  its  opponents,  temporal  as  well  as 
ecclesiastical,  will  at  once  recognise  the  former  as  far 
superior.  For  while  the  leaders  of  the  state  dispose  only 
of  political  ways  and  means,  and  religious  conviction  is 
the  only  sphere  of  influence  open  to  the  churches  free 
from  Rome,  the  essence  of  the  papal  principle  is  the 
exploitation  of  religious  ideas  for  worldly  ends.  The 
external  body  of  the  Church  is  put  in  the  place  of  the  in- 
dwelling Spirit.  The  faith  of  the  pious  in  an  invisible 
world  with  its  spiritual  gifts  and  heavenly  treasures  is 
used  in  the  interest  of  a  visible  world  of  external  power 
and  worldly  pomp.  The  religious  needs  of  the  human 
soul  are  made  available  to  further  the  interests  of  a  hier- 
archy which  is  devoid  of  religious  character.  The  religion 
of  Jesus  itself  is  placed  in  the  service  of  the  same  cjesarism 
which  centralised  the  ancient  world-dominion  of  Rome. 


The  Infallible  Papacy  225 

This  ancient  world-dominion  brought  with  it  the  end 
of  Roman  liberty :  in  order  that  the  empire  might  be 
preserved,  the  central  and  commanding  place  was  given 
to  the  emperor,  and  he  was  raised  to  a  position  among 
the  gods.  A  corresponding  necessity  has  brought  about 
the  proclamation  of  papal  infallibility;  and  it  is  probable 
that  in  the  future  course  of  history  the  modern  papal- 
caesarism  will  experience  the  same  consequences  of  self- 
deification  that  the  ancient  cresarism  did.  But  whatever 
may  be  in  the  future,  there  is  one  fact  of  present  and 
undoubted  reality :  no  single  temporal  prince,  however 
absolute,  has  ever  claimed  and  exercised  such  super- 
human sovereignty  as  the  successor  of  Pius  IX,  What 
is  the  secret  of  that  power  ? 

The  answer  to  this  question  will  be  found  in  several 
reflections.  First  of  all:  this  limitless  papal  absolutism 
is  proclaimed  as  the  true  principle  of  liberty.  The  rule 
of  the  pope  must  —  so  it  is  said  —  guarantee  the  freedom 
of  the  Church ;  freedom,  namely,  from  the  police-guard- 
ianship of  the  secular  governments.  This  thesis,  in  itself, 
carries  immense  moral  weight ;  all  the  greater  from  the 
opposition  in  which  it  is  placed  to  the  Byzantinism  in 
the  other  churches.  There  is  good  reason  why  in  every 
struggle  between  Byzantinism  and  papalism  the  former 
has  succumbed. 

But  beyond  this:  in  the  very  idea  of  the  papal  system, 
as  it  is  developed  by  the  Jesuit  order,  there  lies  a  magic 
power.  For  there  is  no  slight  inspiration  in  the  thought, 
when  a  man  knows  himself  to  be  a  link  in  the  chain  which 
embraces  the  whole  world.  What  statesman  is  able  to 
place  prospects  so  grand  before  his  followers  ?  Vulgar 
ambition  aspiring  to  external  titles  cannot  compare  with 
the  inspiring  feeling  of  being  a  silent  partner  in  this  world- 
dominion. 

The  most  important  factor,  however,  in  the  great  power 
of   the    Papacy    is    found    in    the   exploitation,    already 


2  26  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centicry 

mentioned,  of  the  religious  needs  and  aspirations  of  the 
great  masses  of  people  to  further  the  political  ambitions  of 
the  Papacy.  Innumerable  simple  pious  souls  find  in  the 
sovereignty  of  the  pope  over  the  world-powers  the  image 
of  divine  Providence.  In  the  use  made  of  this  and  of  all 
other  latent  forces  which  belong  to  the  Catholic-ecclesi- 
astical religious  type,  we  find  the  ultimate  cause  of  the 
rehabilitation  of  the  papal  power  after  every  defeat.  Not 
only  did  a  Luther  surpass  in  moral  influence  a  Charles 
V. ;  a  Francis  of  Assisi  also  wields  a  power  compared 
with  which  the  best-drilled  army  corps  is  insignificant. 
The  religious  orders,  which  have  so  greatly  increased  in 
numbers  and  in  importance  during  this  century,  give 
us  a  measure  of  the  powers  which  are  in  the  service  of 
the  Papacy.  As  long  as  these  forces  remain  enslaved 
we  cannot  hope  for  a  permanent  triumph  over  the 
Curia.  And  our  own  generation  has,  more  than  any 
former,  placed  them  at  the  disposal  of  the  pope. 
The  entire  political  development  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury in  all  its  crises  has  been  steadily  serviceable  to  the 
Papacy. 

We  have  traced  the  first  beginnings  of  the  papal  reha- 
bilitation back  to  the  storms  of  the  Revolution.  We  have 
learned  that  the  papal  principle  owed  its  subsequent  tri- 
umphs to  the  general  tendencies  of  the  Restoration  era. 
The  type  of  statesmanship  which  under  the  aegis  of  Met- 
ternich  had  obtained  the  ascendency  in  the  various  coun- 
tries sought  to  overcome  revolutionary  ideas  by  the 
so-called  solidarity  of  conservative  interests.  The  inter- 
national police  system  of  the  great  powers,  inaugurated 
at  the  various  congresses  following  the  Congress  of  Vienna 
(at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  Troppau,  Laibach,  and  Verona),' 
and  at  the  still  more  fatal  Carlsbad  conferences,*  made 
no  objection  to  the  worst  measures  of  the  so-called  legiti- 

'  1818,  1821,  and  1822.  *  1819. 


The  Infallible  Papacy  227 

mate  governments ;  the  national  ambitions  of  the  people, 
on  the  other  hand,  were  treated  as  capital  crimes.  Pop- 
ular aspirations,  thus  suppressed,  took  refuge  in  secret 
associations,  formed  on  the  models  of  the  Jesuits  and  the 
Sanfedists.  Therefore,  these  associations,  the  Carbonari, 
Freemasons,  and  others,  were  now  looked  upon  as  the 
incarnation  of  the  satanic  spirit  of  the  times.  To  cast 
out  this  spirit  seemed  possible  only  by  shutting  out  the 
modern  world  of  thought  from  the  spiritual  life  of  the 
nations  and  by  bringing  back  the  pre-Revolutionary  or 
rather  the  pre-Reformation  circle  of  ideas.  Who  was 
better  able  to  do  this  than  the  Papacy,  which  had  opposed 
itself  with  its  ban  to  the  entire  development  of  things 
since  the  Reformation  ?  The  rigid  unchangeableness  of 
its  principles,  which,  even  in  the  stormy  years  when  the 
foundations  of  all  the  states  had  been  shaken,  had  been 
at  least  apparently  preserved,  was  imposing  to  unbelievers 
even  more  than  to  the  faithful,  and  Protestant  diplomats 
saw  in  the  anathemas  pronounced  upon  toleration,  in  the 
pretension  to  dominion  even  over  Protestant  souls,  only 
one  reason  more  for  their  admiration  of  the  Papacy,  while 
the  reversal  of  history  practised  by  the  romanticists  ex- 
tolled the  time  when  the  Papacy  held  sway  not  only  over 
the  souls  but  also  over  the  bodies  of  men,  through  the 
state  acting  as  its  bailiff. 

Not  only  was  the  general  atmosphere  of  the  Restoration 
favourable  to  the  Papacy,  so  was  also  the  trend  of  public 
policy  in  the  several  countries.  The  restoration  in 
France  of  the  ancicn  regime  with  the  shadows  clinging  to 
it  of  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  and  of  the  dra- 
gonades,  the  tearing  asunder  of  Italian  nationality  into 
quivering  shreds,  the  annihilation  of  the  constitutional 
aspirations  in  Spain,  the  suppression  of  the  Greek  struggle 
for  liberty:  —  all  these  measures  were  in  accord  with  the 
papal  policy  and  favourable  to  it. 

Especially  was  this  the  case  in  Germany,  the  country 


2  28  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centtiry 

of  the  Reformation.  While  Arndt  was  suspended  '  and 
Schleiermacher  disciplined/  the  papal  emissaries  were 
able  to  cast  their  nets  in  the  centre  of  Protestantism,  and 
secret  converts  were  intrusted  with  supreme  authority 
over  the  Evangelical  churches.  It  is  more  than  half  a 
century  since  Schleiermacher  wrote  his  last  prediction: 

Living  piety  and  free-minded  courage  will  more  and  more 
disappear  from  the  clerical  profession;  the  rule  of  the  dead 
letter  from  above,  anxious,  spiritless  sectarianism  from  below, 
will  approach  each  other  more  and  more  closely,  and  from 
their  conjunction  will  arise  a  whirlwind  which  will  drive  many 
helpless  souls  into  the  ready  nets  of  Jesuitism. 

Since  then  innumerable  multitudes  have  taken  the  way 
to  Rome. 

The  Restoration  policy  —  thoroughly  unnatural  as  it 
was  —  brought  in  its  train  new  revolutionary  outbreaks. 
So  we  have  the  July  revolution  in  1830,  and  after  it  the 
revolution  of  February,  1848,  which  shook  all  Europe  to 
its  foundations.  Since  then,  one  revolutionary  move- 
ment has  followed  another.  Each  new  movement  under- 
mined the  established  order  of  the  state,  and  thereby 
brought  to  the  Curia  new  acquisitions  which  surpassed 
in  importance  even  those  made  during  the  era  of  the 
Restoration. 

We  have  already  seen,  in  tracing  the  history  of  one 
pope  after  another,  how  the  Papacy  profited  by  the  re- 
peated revolutions.  The  same  popes  who  were  looked 
upon  as  bulwarks  against  the  revolution  have  again  and 
again  added  fuel  to  the  spirit  of  revolution.  At  the  very 
time  that  legitimacy  saw  in  the  pope  its  best  support  for 
the  suppression  of  unwelcome  aspirations  for  liberty, 
Lamennais  had  given  out  the  watchword  that  the  Papacy 
had  ever  been  the  guardian  of  liberty,  that  Gregory  VII. 

'  From  the  chair  of  history  in  the  university  of  Bonn,  in  1819,  because  he 
insisted  on  the  constitutional  reforms  which  the  king  had  promised. 
*  Charged  by  the  Prussian  government  with  "  demagogic  agitation." 


The  Infallible  Papacy  229 

had  been  the  patron  of  all  those  who  fought  for  popular 
liberty  against  tyrants.  The  immense  success  of  the 
ideas  of  Lamennais  is  proved  not  only  by  the  history  of 
French  Catholicism,  but  also  by  the  Church  history  of 
Belgium,  Ireland,  Poland,  and  Germany.  The  author 
himself  succumbed  to  the  disagreement  between  his  ideal 
and  his  idol,  yet  the  school  which  he  founded  has  become 
more  and  more  influential  and  therewith  more  and  more 
demagogical. 

Thus  has  the  Papacy  of  the  nineteenth  century  found 
ready  allies  in  the  most  opposite  quarters.  We  can  hardly 
conceive  of  any  form  of  constitution  where  it  did  not 
know  how  to  apply  its  lever.  In  the  absolute  monarchy, 
there  meet  us  in  the  nineteenth  as  well  as  in  the  seven- 
teenth century  the  affiliated  members  of  the  Jesuit  order 
in  the  guise  of  chamberlains  and  ladies  of  the  court,  who 
know  all  the  side  doors  and  back  stairs.  In  the  consti- 
tutional monarchy,  the  leaders  of  every  policy,  liberal  as 
well  as  conservative,  are  made  to  feel  the  power  of  a 
party  to  which  every  political  question  is  but  a  means 
for  the  strengthening  of  clericalism.  In  parliamentary 
states,  where  all  continuity  of  government  perishes  in  the 
quickly  recurring  intrigues  for  position,  the  Church  milit- 
ant has  found  it  so  much  the  easier  to  gain  possession  of 
one  attribute  of  the  state  after  another.  In  most  repub- 
lics, the  constantly  changing  majorities  offer  the  surest 
guarantee  that  in  a  few  years  the  opposite  principles  will 
have  the  ascendency.  Only  one  thing  remains  the  same 
in  this  continual  change,  and  that  is  the  masterly  skill  of 
the  Curia  in  making  instantaneous  use  of  every  favourable 
moment  in  every  suitable  place. 

The  truest  interpreter  of  its  tactics  is  the  German  party 
of  the  Centre,  as  in  the  one  year  it  allies  itself  with  the 
social  democrats,  in  the  other  with  the  high  conserva- 
tives, in  the  third  with  the  followers  of  Eugene  Richter.* 

'  See  page  201,  note  2. 


230  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centu7y 

The  party  of  the  centre  has  used  in  the  interests  of  the 
Papacy  all  those  factions  which  from  whatever  motive 
opposed  themselves  to  the  modern  state.  The  only  fac- 
tions which  enjoyed  its  perpetual  hostility  were  the  hated 
middle  parties  of  the  national  liberals  and  the  free 
conservatives,  precisely  those  which  through  all  changes 
of  policy  have  laboured  for  the  strengthening  of  a  state 
system  founded  upon  equal  rights  for  all  its  citizens. 

In  this  relation  of  the  papal  system  to  political  parties 
there  is  nothing  less  than  chance.  The  papal  Church  can 
attain  its  purpose  of  assuming  to  itself  the  functions  of 
the  state  only  in  weak  states.  And  its  purpose  is  very 
far-reaching.  For  not  only  school  and  educational  sys- 
tems, not  only  state  and  municipal  authorities,  not  only 
the  property  of  congregations,  but  also  industry  and  art 
must  be  subject  to  this  Church,  in  a  state  which  acknow- 
ledges the  Jesuit  liberty  of  the  Church.  The  state  is 
allowed  to  retain  the  collection  of  taxes.  In  return  for 
this  it  is  obliged  to  yield  willing  obedience  to  the  divine 
right  of  the  infallible  hierarchy.  Its  first  duty  consists 
in  preparing  the  way  for  true  toleration  and  a  genuine 
religious  peace  by  preventing  other  religious  communions, 
which  may  claim  the  same  rights  as  the  papal  Church, 
from  defending  themselves  against  its  attacks.  In  mixed 
marriages  the  state  is  bound  to  guarantee  the  freedom  of 
the  Church  to  claim  the  children  for  itself  alone  and  to 
declare  marriages  performed  by  other  clergymen  to  be 
concubinage;  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  state  to  prevent 
every  unwelcome  criticism  of  the  divine  attributes  of  the 
infallible  pope  as  well  as  those  of  the  fathers  of  the  coun- 
cil who  proclaimed  this  infallibility. 

Alsace  and  the  Dutch  provinces  afford  at  this  time  the 
most  striking  object-lessons.  In  these  countries  munici- 
pal and  state  authorities  are  being  brought  into  subjection 
to  the  Roman  clergy,  and  there  is  not  a  social  position 
whose  occupant  has  not  been  taught  by  experience  that 


The  Infallible  Papacy  231 

his  material  existence  is  in  the  hands  of  this  same 
clergy.  In  the  countries  of  the  Reformation  the  condi- 
tions are  hardly  better  than  in  France,  of  which  the 
historian  Nielsen  testifies:  "  In  proportion  as  Ultramon- 
tanism  is  victorious  in  France,  Catholicism  loses  in  France 
the  character  of  a  Church  and  sinks  to  the  position  of  a 
party."  The  evidences  of  the  influence  which  this  party 
has  exerted  upon  popular  morality  in  the  various  coun- 
tries meet  us  again  and  again,  from  the  war  of  Don 
Miguel  in  Portugal  and  the  repeated  Carlist  wars  in 
Spain,  the  revolution  in  Belgium,  and  the  Swiss  war  of 
the  Sonderbund,  down  to  the  bands  of  pious  assassins  in 
Poland  and  Ireland. 

If  the  history  of  the  past  and  present  affords  any  indi- 
cation of  what  is  to  be  expected  in  the  future,  we  cannot 
doubt  that  the  triumphs  so  far  achieved  by  the  papal 
policy  over  secular  politicians  will  be  very  much  increased. 
The  majority  of  statesmen  treat  the  Church  only  as  a 
means  to  an  end  ;  ecclesiastical  ofifices  are,  in  their  hands, 
only  a  means  of  compensation  in  matters  of  the  excise 
and  the  custom-house.  To-day  they  assume  one  position 
toward  ecclesiastical  questions,  to-morrow  exactly  the 
opposite.  This  is  really  quite  in  the  nature  of  things, 
inasmuch  as  their  public  functions  accustom  them  to  deal 
with  entirely  different  matters.  And  it  is  quite  natural, 
too,  that  the  representatives  of  each  state  think  only  of 
their  own  state ;  whereas  all  these  separate  states  are 
comprehended  by  the  Curia  in  one  general  survey  of  the 
whole  world.  Its  nets  are  laid  everywhere.  At  all  times 
and  in  all  places  it  acts  according  to  the  same  unalterable 
maxims,  which,  however,  allow  the  greatest  flexibility  of 
method  in  regard  to  the  existing  position  of  affairs. 

The  instruments  and  agencies  which  are  at  the  disposal 
of  the  Papacy  for  the  realisation  of  its  plans  are  many  and 
various.     We  find  in  the  first  place  that  the  most  influen- 


232  The  Papacy  hi  the  igth  Century 

tial  social  strata  have  rendered  the  most  willing  service. 
The  number  of  converts  alone  from  princely  families  and 
from  those  of  counts  and  barons  is  not  smaller  than  the 
representatives  in  the  pay  of  the  pope  of  the  so-called 
youngest  of  the  great  powers — the  press.  More  inde- 
fatigable still,  as  afifiliated  members  of  the  restored  order 
of  Jesuits,  is  that  class  of  noble  ladies,  whose  type  is  the 
Empress  Eugenie.  Loyola  himself  had  taught  the  order 
to  make  use  of  the  influence  of  ladies  of  high  position  for 
ecclesiastical  purposes,  and  their  female  penitents  have  in 
our  century  rendered  very  considerable  service  to  the 
cause.  From  the  autobiography  of  the  Prince-Bishop 
Sedlniczki,  we  know  how  important  a  part  the  converted 
duchess  of  Kothen  and  a  mistress  of  Prince  Hardenberg 
played  in  the  intrigues  which  led  to  the  resignation  of 
this  long-suffering  prince  of  the  Church.  The  Arch- 
duchess Sophie  of  Austria  through  her  various  sisters 
frequently  exerted  a  decisive  influence  upon  the  other 
German  courts.  Moreover,  among  the  most  obedient 
female  servants  of  the  Curia  are  those  who  to  outward 
appearance  are  of  another  faith. 

Together  with  these  female  influences,  which  were  too 
often  decisive,  we  find  the  great  majority  of  male  diplo- 
mats and  leaders  of  the  state  closely  allied  with  the  papal 
interests.  There  is  no  temporal  state  which  can  so  richly 
reward  its  servants  as  the  so-called  vicar  of  Him  whose 
kingdom  was  said  not  to  be  of  this  world.  Orders  and 
promotions  and  titles  of  all  kinds  are  given  to  those  to 
whom  the  hope  of  what  is  beyond  possesses  little  reality. 

The  rank  and  file  of  the  Catholic  clergy  have  been 
made  to  feel  the  masterly  skill  of  the  Roman  policy, 
which  makes  use  of  the  mutual  jealousy  of  the  various 
orders  of  monks  in  order  to  dominate  them  alL  Espe- 
cially in  the  war  upon  the  national-Church  tendency 
within  the  several  ecclesiastical  bodies  have  such  indirect 
methods  played  an  important  part.     When  we  add  to 


The  Infallible  Papacy  233 

this  that  the  opponents  of  the  Curia  within  the  ranks  of 
the  clergy  were  usually  quite  defenceless,  not  even  pro- 
tected by  the  representatives  of  their  own  states,  but 
again  and  again  betrayed  by  the  latter  into  the  hands  of 
the  common  enemy,  we  have  an  adequate  explanation  of 
the  complete  change  that  has  taken  place  in  by  far  the 
largest  part  of  the  Catholic  clergy.  On  the  one  side  were 
alluring  prospects,  on  the  other  the  danger  of  moral  or 
material  annihilation.  When  no  other  handle  was  found 
against  Bishop  Wessenberg,  his  honourable  name  was  as- 
sailed. When  Sembratowicz  protested  against  the  spolia- 
tion of  the  Basilian  monasteries,*  he  was  denounced  to 
the  government  as  a  traitor.  The  farther  removed  from 
the  scene  of  action,  the  more  unhesitating  the  use 
of  the  accustomed  Jesuit  means.  The  methods  which  the 
clerical  press  employed  in  dealing  with  the  lives  of  the 
reformers  is  now  applied  to  contemporaries.  If  anyone 
dreams  of  any  possible  rights  as  belonging  to  the  state 
or  to  another  Church  or  to  science,  the  attempt  is  first 
made  to  intimidate,  and  if  that  is  impossible,  to  bring 
moral  ruin  upon  him.  The  enormous  means  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  Church  militant  make  it  an  easy  matter  to 
spread  the  clerical  literature  to  the  remotest  parts,  and 
to  silence  dissenters.  How  many  an  opponent  has  finally 
become  discouraged  and  has  given  up  the  battle  which 
he  has  waged  single-handed  against  the  world-ruling 
organisation ! 

And  yet,  all  these  factors  would  not  have  sufficed  to 
secure  to  the  Papacy  the  yearly  increasing  influence  over 
all  social  conditions,  had  not  again  and  again  the  help  of 
the  Protestant  Jesuits  come  to  the  rescue.  The  tendency 
which  aims  to  bring  back  Protestantism  to  the  standard 
of  traditional  orthodoxy  is  of  the  greatest  service  to  the 
Papacy.  The  self-rending  in  which  the  Protestant  leaders 
have  been  pleased  to  indulge  has  now,  as  before,  played 
'  See  page  215. 


234  ^'^^  Papacy  in  the  igtk  Century 

into  the  hands  of  that  Roman  arrogance  which  considers 
the  destruction  of  the  schismatic  churches  as  merely  a 
matter  of  time.  In  order  to  suppress  a  displeasing  theo- 
logical tendency,  the  Protestant  hierarchs  have  exposed 
themselves  to  the  ridicule  of  the  Ultramontanes,  who  as- 
sert that  Protestantism  owes  the  preservation  of  whatever 
faith  is  left  in  their  decaying  churches  to  their  alliance 
with  the  papal  party. 

Such  are  the  forces  at  the  disposal  of  the  Papacy,  and 
no  one  familiar  with  the  position  of  affairs  can  doubt  that 
any  of  the  pope's  present  following  will  refuse  their  serv- 
ices in  the  future.  And  now  consider  all  these  forces 
marshalled  by  the  rigid  dictatorship  which  the  new  dogma 
has  introduced.  For  the  society  of  the  future  no  longer 
faces  the  old  ideal  conception  of  Catholicism,  which  in  its 
essence  coincides  with  the  idea  of  the  invisible  Church  of 
the  Reformation,  and  whose  claims  of  exclusive  power 
of  salvation  really  only  amount  to  this,  that  it  promises 
salvation  to  all  who  do  not  maliciously  harden  themselves. 
This  Catholic  conception  of  the  Church  has  been  de- 
stroyed and  the  papal  system  put  in  its  place. 

It  was  not  for  a  theoretical  fancy,  for  an  altered  theo- 
logical formula,  that  the  Jesuits  spent  more  than  ten 
years  in  making  their  preparations  and  in  conquering 
every  opposition.  Papal  infallibility  has  very  real  practi- 
cal ends.  Hitherto  the  scholastic  and  Roman  element 
has  been  second  to  the  religious  and  Christian;  the 
Roman  Catholic  could  be  devoted  to  his  country  and 
could  have  a  heart  for  science ;  the  hope  of  the  future  for 
a  reunion  of  the  separated  churches  was  based  upon  the 
presumption  of  a  mutual  approach.  All  this  has  been 
changed  since  the  Council  of  the  Vatican.  In  distinction 
from  the  mild  and  pious  type  of  Catholicism  which  in 
spite  of  all  oppression  preponderated  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people,  a  fanatical  Jesuitism  has  been  declared  the  only 
authorised  religion.     Jesuitism  and  papal  rule  are  now 


The  Infallible  Papacy  235 

inseparable  conceptions.  Clothed  with  divine  authority, 
the  dictator  in  Rome  demands  the  blind  obedience  of  all 
Catholics.  By  divine  right  there  is  claimed  the  subjection 
of  all  baptised  heretics  under  the  ever-renewed  incarnation 
of  Christ  in  the  pope.  By  divine  authority  the  temporal 
rule  of  the  state  is  restricted,  and  the  independent  exer- 
cise of  the  divine  prerogative  of  the  state  is  called  in 
question. 

The  ideal  Church  hitherto  existing  has  been  completely 
materialised  and  sacrificed  to  the  world-dominion  of  the 
pope.  The  minority  bishops  at  the  Council  of  the  Vati- 
can entreated  the  pope  not  to  sanction  the  theory  of  the 
bull,  Unam  Smictam.  But  in  spite  of  their  entreaty  the 
constitution,  Pastor  cetermis,  was  issued,  July  18,  1870, 
and  precisely  what  they  wished  to  avoid  has  happened. 
The  same  bishops  immediately  gave  the  most  unam- 
biguous proof  of  the  change  that  had  taken  place  by  pro- 
ceeding with  all  the  means  at  their  disposal  to  persecute 
those  who  before  had  shared  their  own  views.  As  vicars 
of  the  pope  they  have  no  more  sacred  duty  than  to  per- 
secute dissenters  and  to  teach  the  faithful  that  the  worldly 
magistracy  exercises  authority  over  them  only  by  the 
grace  of  the  pope.  For  the  prophecy  of  the  one  shepherd 
and  the  one  flock  means  in  the  future  that  every  creature 
must  be  subject  to  the  pope. 

Analogous  to  this  position  of  an  infallible  Papacy 
towards  society  and  the  state  is  its  relation  to  science 
and  learning.  Along  with  the  denial  of  rights  to  dissent- 
ers and  the  refusal  to  acknowledge  the  laws  of  the  state 
when  they  conflict  with  the  infallible  oracles  of  the  Pap- 
acy, goes  the  papal  proscription  of  the  liberty  of  scientific 
investigation ;  and  no  possible  means  is  neglected  of  de- 
stroying all  independent  research  and  of  putting  obedience 
to  the  revelations  of  the  pope  in  its  place.  In  the  first 
period  of  this  century  Catholicism,  especially  in  Germany, 


236  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

could  boast  of  numerous  schools  full  of  the  spirit  of  inde- 
pendent research.  One  after  another,  they  have  been 
suppressed  by  the  Curia.  At  this  day  the  Roman  Index 
has  become  the  highest  authority  over  science  wherever 
the  power  of  the  Papacy  extends.' 

At  present  its  decrees  preserve  only  the  believers  in  the 
Papacy  from  dangerous  literature.  The  question  of  the 
future  will  be  of  establishing  its  authority  over  unbe- 
lievers. Measures  looking  to  this  end  have  already  been 
taken.  The  Prussian  laws,  e.  g.,  threaten  with  three 
years'  imprisonment  whoever  exposes  to  hatred  and  con- 
tempt any  institution  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
and  only  one  more  step  is  required,  namely,  to  define 
these  institutions  as  synonymous  with  those  of  the  Pap- 
acy. The  state  has  allowed  Vaticanism  to  be  put  in  the 
place  of  Catholicism.  Thereby  both  the  congregations 
of  the  Index  and  of  the  Inquisition  have  in  fact  been 
placed  under  the  protection  of  the  law. 

The  protection  of  these  institutions  by  the  power  of 
the  state  is  now  one  of  the  prerequisites  of  the  peace  be- 
tween Church  and  State,  and  it  will  not  be  long  before 
the  courts  are  called  upon  to  protect  the  religious  peace, 
as  it  is  guaranteed  by  the  Index  and  the  Inquisition. 
The  Protestant  pastor  of  Geldern  was  compelled  against 
his  will  to  decorate  his  house  on  Corpus-Christi  day. 
He  afterwards  gave  an  exposition  of  the  reformed  con- 
ception of  the  mass.  For  this  he  has  been  condemned 
by  the  court.  In  the  same  week  the  Gerviania  news- 
paper, which  had  declared  the  legal  marriage  of  a  Prus- 
sian school  inspector  to  be  concubinage,  was  acquitted 
(November,  1882). 

The  law  of  the  state  is  obliged  to  protect  the  Roman 
"  dogma."  In  accordance  with  this  dogma  the  religious 
peace  is  violated  if  anyone  dares  to  give  the  actual  his- 

'  Compare  the  admirable  monograph  of  Reuss,  The  Index  of  Prohibited 
Books. 


The  Infallible  Papacy  237 

tory  of  the  Papacy,  or  If  anyone  has  the  hardihood  to 
speak  of  the  blessings  of  the  Reformation  or  to  look  upon 
the  characters  of  the  Reformation  in  any  other  light  than 
that  which  is  permitted  by  the  infallible  pronouncements 
of  the  Papacy. 

The  same  infallibility  which  controls  the  action  of  the 
government  prescribes  rules  to  the  historian.  "  The 
tradition  am  I,"  said  Pius  IX.  "  Dogma  has  conquered 
History,"  boasted  Manning  after  the  Vatican  Council. 
When  Hefele's '  history  of  the  councils,  revised  after 
the  decrees  of  the  Vatican,  appeared,  it  was  found  that 
the  bishop  had  overcome  the  scholar.  How  could  it  be 
otherwise  ?  The  condemnation  of  an  heretical  pope  by 
an  ecumenical  council  cannot  be  allowed  to  have  taken 
place.  The  Council  of  the  Vatican  has  declared  it  im- 
possible. What,  compared  with  this,  do  the  sources  of 
history  signify  ? 

With  good  reason  did  "  Janus  "  '  on  the  eve  of  the 
council  point  out  the  one  essential  condition  for  the  gen- 
eral triumph  of  the  dogma,  namely,  that  all  libraries 
should  be  burned  and  that  the  civilised  nations  should 
become  strangers  to  all  knowledge  of  their  past,  some- 
what like  the  Maoris  of  New  Zealand.  The  disciples  of 
the  pope  are  well  advanced  on  their  way  to  this  goal. 
The  achievements  of  the  Reformation  era  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  unwelcome  books  and  historical  documents  have 
been  well-nigh  surpassed  in  the  nineteenth  century. 
The  disappearance  of  the  most  important  documents  in 
the  archives  of  Wiirzburg,  testified  to  by  J.  B.  Schwab, 
has  numerous  parallels.  Augustine  Theiner  has  wit- 
nessed to  the  same  thing  in  regard  to  the  original  records 
of  the  reign   of  Clement  XIV. ;  the  minister  of  public 

■  Bishop  of  Rottenburg  in  Wiirtemberg,  one  of  the  most  learned  scholars 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  author  of  a  standard  history  of  the  Church 
councils,  which  he  was  subsequently  obliged  to  revise  in  accordance  with 
the  decrees  of  the  Vatican  Council.     See  page  158. 

'  DoUinger. 


238  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centtcry 

worship,  Falk,  in  regard  to  irreplaceable  documents  of 
the  Prussian  ministry. 

The  leaders  of  the  papal  party  make  no  concealment 
of  this  noble  principle.  The  valuable  collection  of  the 
Gallia  CJiristiana  contained  the  history  of  the  pre-Revolu- 
tionary  Church  of  France,  and  in  that  history  were  many 
awkward  facts  for  the  papal  system.  Abb^  Gueranger 
of  Solesmes  issued  a  new  edition.  His  principles  of  his- 
torical research  made  no  secret  of  the  fact  that  the  in- 
terests of  the  Papacy  must  be  the  highest  criterion  to 
the  historian.  The  extent  to  which  the  new  edition  of 
the  Gallia  Christiana  followed  these  principles  was  shown 
by  the  words  in  its  praise  spoken  by  Veuillot  (in  the 
Univers  of  August  28,  1874),  to  the  effect  that  in  re- 
dressing the  expressions  of  the  old  authors  no  pains  had 
been  spared  to  "  create  a  monument  worthy  of  the 
devotion  to  the  vicar  of  God." 

The  Fribourg  Church-lexicon  has  been  transformed  on 
the  same  principle.  In  the  second  edition  important 
sentences  in  many  articles  of  the  first  edition  have  simply 
been  placed  on  their  heads,  and  that  without  the  slightest 
indication  of  the  total  transformation  of  the  former  ac- 
count. In  a  short  period  the  first  edition  will  have  dis- 
appeared, and  no  one  will  be  able  to  compare  the  two. 
Then  it  will  be  possible  to  teach  coming  generations  that 
the  infallibility  of  the  pope  has  been  taught  always, 
everywhere,  and  by  all.  Numerous  drastic  examples  of 
the  same  method  have  been  given  from  French  catechisms 
and  manuals  and  from  German  books  of  devotion.'  We 
already  have  Miiller's  translation  of  the  Iniitatio  Christi, 
approved  by  Melchers,  the  archbishop  of  Cologne,  in 
which  at  a  certain  place  we  read  for  licentiousness  "  in 
the  monasteries,"  licentiousness  "  in  the  higher  classes." 

'  The  latter  by  Bishop  Reinkens,  the  former  by  Michaud,  professor  in 
the  old  Catholic  seminary  at  Berne  :  De  la  falsification  des  cat/chismes 
franfais  et  des  manuels  de  th^ologie  par  le  parti  romaniste,  de  1670  a  186S. 


The  Infallible  Papacy  239 

Until  now  nobody  had  known  that  in  ccenohiis  meant  "  in 
the  higher  classes." 

It  would  be  unjust  to  charge  this  systematised  falsifica- 
tion of  historical  documents  to  the  dogma  of  the  infalli- 
bility. For  the  authority  of  the  Papacy  rests  from  the 
beginning  upon  the  same  system.  An  unbroken  chain 
extends  all  the  way  down,  beginning  with  the  fairy  tale 
of  St.  Peter's  Roman  bishopric.  From  the  falsification 
of  the  Nicene  canons  and  the  invention  of  the  synod  of 
Sinuessa,'  which  never  took  place,  we  are  led  to  the 
pseudo-Isidorean  decretals;  and  again  from  the  falsifi- 
cations of  the  Gregorian  era  to  the  deceit  practised  upon 
Thomas  Aquinas  through  the  pseudo-Cyril  sent  him  from 
Rome." 

There  is  system  and  method  in  this  never-ceasing  im- 
position. It  is  the  same  method  as  that  which  maintains 
the  belief  in  witches  and  demons  (identified  with  the 
Christian  faith  since  the  infallible  pronouncement  of  In- 
nocent VIII.),  as  that  which  is  used  in  the  miracles  of  La 
Salette  and  Lourdes  and  Marpingen,  as  in  the  revelations 
of  Marie  Alacoque  and  Catharine  Emmerich,  as  with  false 
relics  confirmed  as  genuine  by  papal  seal  and  documents. 
The  works  of  eminent  scholars  have  exposed  these  facts.^ 
But  these  works  are  placed  upon  the  Index.  The  faith- 
ful may  not  read  them.  To  secure  unbelievers  from 
temptation,  such  unpleasant  books,  as  soon  as  the  mo- 
ment appears  favourable  and  no  new  edition  is  to  be 
feared,  are  bought  up  and  rendered  harmless.  For  years 
it  has  been  impossible  to  obtain  a  copy  of  the  writings  of 
Gratry  and  Maret  against  the  infallibility  and  of  many 
similar  works.     **  Janus  "  also  is  disappearing. 

'  Said  to  have  taken  place  in  the  year  303. 

*  Compare  page  195. 

*  Compare  on  this  subject  the  writings  of  "Janus"  (Dollinger) ;  also 
"  Paulinus  ":  Mdrtyrer  der  Katakoniben  und die  romische  Praxis  ;  Reusch  : 
Die  deutschen  Bischoffe  und  der  Aberglaube  ;  and  Friedrich  :  Mechanismus 
der  vatikanischen  Religion. 


240  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Ce^ttury 

The  conception  of  history  that  Papalism  has  put  in  the 
place  of  "  infidel  "  research  is  sufficiently  illustrated  by 
the  Roman  breviary,  the  daily  reading  of  all  the  Roman 
clergy.  Besides  this — to  choose  but  one  out  of  the  hun- 
dreds of  papal  periodicals — we  mention  the.  Monthly  Roses, 
disseminated  in  all  languages  for  the  adoration  of  the 
Sacred  Heart.  The  so-called  "historical"  works  on 
the  "  miracles  "  in  the  nineteenth  century,  approved  by 
the  Church,  are  almost  innumerable,  and  are  spread 
abroad  in  countless  editions.  To  cite  only  a  few  ex- 
amples: we  call  attention  to  the  work  of  the  Abbe 
Curicque,  Voix  prophetiques  ou  signes,  apparitions  et  pre- 
dictions modernes  (specially  approved  by  Bishop  Rass  of 
Strassburg),  to  the  work  of  Sausseret,  translated  into 
German  and  scattered  abroad  in  several  editions,  Appari- 
tions and  Revelations  of  the  Most  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  to 
Francois  Joseph's  Miracles  de  Salette,  and  Marie  Antoine's 
Mayiiieldiipdiriit  de  Lourdes.  But — how  many  Protestant 
scholars  are  familiar  even  with  these  easily  accessible 
works  ?  And  yet  it  has  long  been  evident  that  these  are 
the  sources  from  which  clerical  parliamentarians  have 
derived  their  knov/ledge  of  history  and  their  judgments. 
And  already  the  bold  attempt  has  been  made  to  set  up 
this  idea  of  history,  as  it  is  disseminated  in  clerical 
pamphlets,  against  the  results  of  modern  science. 

During  the  sessions  of  the  Vatican  Council  there  ap- 
peared a  pamphlet  by  Scheeben  :  The  Pope  and  his  Latest 
Calnnmiators,  directed  against  the  warning  voices  of 
"Janus"  (DoUinger)  and  others.  The  judgment  here 
pronounced  upon  DoUinger  (1869)  is  characteristic: 

The  manner  in  which  Janus  fulfils  the  conditions  of  scien- 
tific investigation  and  the  mendaciousness  with  which  he  con- 
ceals his  true  views  and  purposes  warrants  us  in  concluding 
that  we  have  before  us  no  competent  historical  scholar  —  that 
there  are  in  theology  and  history,  as  well  as  in  conduct  and 
life,  bunglers  and  swindlers. 


The  Infallible  Papacy  241 

And  wherein  consists  this  lack  of  the  "  conditions  of 
scientific  investigation  "  ?  The  answer  is  contained  in 
one  word  on  the  last  page:  Doliinger  gives  a  "  heretical 
representation  of  the  ancient  constitution  of  the  Church. ' ' 
Whoever  applies  the  light  of  history  to  the  pretensions 
and  impositions  of  the  Papacy  gives  a  "  heretical  "  repre- 
sentation. For  it  is  the  business  of  dogma  to  prescribe 
to  history  what  it  may  tell  and  what  not. 

Even  more  explicit  is  the  announcement  made  in  the 
*'  historical-political  papers,"  where  the  "  dogmatic-his- 
torical method  "  is  upheld  as  the  only  valid  one.  This 
is  the  definition  of  Dr.  Pohle: 

In  the  Church  of  Christ  breathes  and  rules  the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  by  virtue  of  this  breathing  and  ruling  dogma  and  history 
form  a  wonderful  harmony.  There  are  reasons  in  the  very 
nature  of  the  case  why  there  can  be  no  fact  of  Church  history 
which  should  stand  in  any  real  contradiction  with  dogma,  or 
even  with  the  spirit  of  dogma.  Ecclesiastical  history  possesses 
in  dogma  an  unerring  guide  through  the  manifold  historical 
transformations  of  the  centuries — and  the  interpretation  of 
historical  facts  must  lean  closely  and  submissively  upon 
dogma. 

This  "  leaning  "  upon  dogma  is  to  be  understood  to 
apply  first  and  foremost  to  the  account  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. "  Infallible  "  judgment  on  this  event  is  given  in 
the  bulls  of  Leo  X.  The  historian  has  simply  to  follow 
these  bulls.  "  A  Catholic  author  must  consider  it  his 
strict  duty  to  make  the  alone  valid  and  therefore  object- 
ive ecclesiastical  view  of  the  religious  schism  a  distinctly 
emphasised  principle  of  his  own  historical  conception."  * 
Formerly  these  beautiful  theories  were  found  only  in 
orthodox  seminary  books,  pamphlets,  and  periodicals, 
and  in  the  clerical  press,  whose  method  of  refutation 

'  See  vol,  iii.  of  the  Historical  Manual  of  the  Gorres-Society. 
16 


242  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  CenUiry 

was  not  by  reasons  but  by  vilification  of  dissenters. 
But  since  the  triumph  of  the  infallibility  dogma  they 
appear  in  the  open  light  of  day  with  the  claim  to  in- 
fallibility and  exclusive  right.  At  the  convention  of 
Catholics  in  Frankfurt  (September,  1882),  the  same  con- 
vention which  in  the  name  of  Germany  welcomed  the 
cult  of  St.  Teresa  a  Jesu,  Herr  Windhorst  declared  ex- 
plicitly that  the  whole  of  German  history  had  been  falsi- 
fied ;  that  history  falsified  was  taught  in  popular  schools, 
in  gymnasia,  and  in  the  universities.  It  was  important 
that  a  correct  account  should  be  given ;  here  was  the 
arsenal  which  Catholics  required  to  furnish  them  with 
weapons  for  the  struggles  that  were  forced  upon  them 
every  day. 

The  watchword  given  out  by  the  leader  of  the  Centre 
has  been  promptly  taken  up  by  the  clerical  press  in  Ger- 
man)''.  The  ScJilesische  Volkszeitung  expressed  against 
those  who  were  going  to  celebrate  the  four  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Luther  the  threat,  that  if  this 
was  attempted  an  answer  would  be  given  in  the  shape  of 
a  picture  of  the  real  Luther,  at  which  every  decent  man 
would  have  to  be  ashamed.  The  promise  was  literally 
fulfilled  in  a  biography  prepared  for  the  Luther-jubilee<> 

There  is  nothing  new  in  this  whole  method.  Only  the 
boldness  is  new  with  which  it  is  publicly  applied,  now 
that  the  defeat  of  the  German  empire  in  the  Kultur- 
kavtpf\x2,s,  been  followed  by  its  inevitable  consequences. 
For  with  a  defiance  which  can  hardly  be  exceeded  the 
Protestant  heresy  is  treated  as  in  reality  a  thing  of  the 
past.  Like  mushrooms  the  books  spring  up  which  en- 
large upon  the  text  furnished  in  the  statements  made  by 
Leo  XI IL  on  the  Reformation  as  the  origin  of  all  the 
evil  of  our  time. 

One  repeats  what  the  other  has  said  on  the  papal  con- 
struction of  history,  until  the  number  of  echoes  really  ap- 
pears as  a  sort  of  public  opinion.     The  modern  fabrication 


The  Infallible  Papacy  243 

of  books  does  not  demand  any  effort  of  the  mind.  Ham- 
merstein's  Recollections  of  an  Old  Lutheran  takes  its  data 
concerning  the  Reformation  and  the  reformers  from  Evers* 
CatJiolic  or  Protestajit ;  Evers  has  collected  his  tirades  from 
Janssen's  History  of  the  German  People.  From  the  latter 
work  the  entire  clerical  press  dates  with  touching  una- 
nimity a  new  era  in  the  writing  of  history.  And  in  fact 
no  work  is  so  well  fitted  to  stand  as  a  type  of  the  posi- 
tion of  an  infallible  papalism  towards  historical  science.  * 
The  conception  underlying  Janssen's  book  does  not  in 
the  least  differ  from  that  of  the  whole  papal  literature  on 
the  Reformation.  This  literature  had  in  the  eighteenth 
century  retired  from  the  public  gaze  into  obscurity,  but 
since  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  it  has 
everywhere  again  come  to  the  front.  None  of  the  tricks 
by  which  history  is  perverted  are  new,  as  anybody  knows 
who  is  at  all  familiar  with  the  school  of  the  old  as  well  as 
of   the   new   Jesuits.      The   supercilious    appearance   of 

'  Janssen's  History  of  the  German  People  from  the  End  of  the  Middle 
Ages  appeared  in  1876  and  the  following  years.  It  claimed  to  be  purely 
"objective."  It  is  in  effect  a  reconstruction  of  German  history  from  the 
Ultramontane  point  of  view.  It  was  one  of  the  literary  sensations  of  the 
times. 

The  following  commentary  on  the  method  of  Janssen  and  his  school  will 
be  found  instructive.  It  is  taken  from  a  review,  published  in  The  Nation 
of  May  17,  igoo,  of  Dr.  Gasquet's  recent  book,  The  Eve  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. The  appearance  of  this  volume  proves  that  the  style  of  historical 
literature  against  which  Nippold  protests  is  spreading  from  Germany  to 
England.     After  stating  the  title  of  the  book,  the  review  begins  : 

"  Under  the  above  title  Dr.  Gasquet,  known  to  scholars  chiefly  by  his 
book  on  Henry  VIII.  and  the  English  Monasteries,  has  grouped  a  series 
of  '  studies '  upon  various  aspects  of  the  English  Reformation.  '  Studies ' 
is  an  attractive  but  misleading  word.  One  studies  in  order  to  learn  some- 
thing ;  but  that  has  not  been  the  purpose  of  Dr.  Gasquet's  investigations. 
He  knew  beforehand  all  that  was  necessary  for  him  to  know,  and  he  has 
studied  only  to  find  illustrations  of  a  thesis  with  which  he  starts.  He  is 
avowedly  a  disciple  of  Janssen,  whom  he  quotes  at  length  and  whom  he 
describes  as  '  the  historian  of  Germany '  for  his  period.  His  method,  which 
is  the  same  as  that  of  his  master,  was  bound  to  be  applied  sooner  or  later 
to  this  phase  of  the  Reformation,  as  it  has  been  already  with  so  much  effect 


244  ^-^^^  Papacy  in  the  igtJi  Ceiitury 

superiority  which  Janssen  assumed  in  his  answer  to  '*  my 
critics  "  was  possible  only  because  of  the  almost  entire 
ignorance  until  then  prevailing  among  Protestants,  as 
well  of  the  inner  life  of  Catholicism  as  of  the  papal  repre- 
sentation of  history.  On  one  side  was  the  incessant,  in- 
defatigable claim  for  the  reversal  of  all  history  according 
to  the  infallible  oracle  in  Rome,  on  the  other  side  was  the 
customary  ignorance  of  Catholic  literature. 

What  Protestant  critics  remained  ignorant  of  was  clearly 
appreciated  among  Catholic  scholars.  The  real  intellect- 
ual leaders  of  Catholic  theology  have  long  ago  freed  us 
from  the  trouble  of  exposing  the  means  used  by  Janssen 
and  his  followers.  DoUinger's  address  on  sectarian  and 
non-sectarian  teaching  of  history,  i.  e.,  on  the  contradictio 
in  adjecto  contained  in  the  former,  gives  us  his  judgment 
on  the  work  of  Janssen.  Bishop  Reinkens  has  character- 
ised Janssen's  transformation  of  history  and  his  methods 
in  the  following  language:  "  Apparently  he  allows  the 
documents  to  speak;  but  by  suppression,  by  a  slight 
colouring,  by  unnoticed  transposition  of  cause  and  effect, 
he  says  the  opposite."  Various  well-informed  authors, 
such  as  Hoffmann,  for  many  years  his  literar)^  associate, 
and  Baumstark,  have  given  a  faithful  characterisation  of 
Janssen  and  of  the  diametrical  opposition  between  his 

in  other  directions.  It  consists  in  laying  down  certain  propositions  and 
then  supporting  them  by  contemporary  evidence,  carefully  selecting  such  as 
bear  in  the  desired  direction,  and  ignoring  all  that  might  seem  to  weaken 
the  case.  An  essential  feature  is  also  the  apparently  frank  admission  of 
certain  errors  and  weaknesses  on  one's  own  side,  and  of  a  certain  proportion 
of  good  intention  on  the  side  of  the  opponent.  Such  a  method  aims  to  dis- 
arm criticism  at  the  outset.  It  would  produce  its  effects  by  an  appeal  to  the 
sense  of  fairness  and  of  logical  sequence." 

The  last  sentence  of  the  review  will  be  interesting  to  readers  of  this 
volume  as  expressing — almost  in  identical  language — one  of  its  main  theses  : 
the  irreconcilableness  of  the  Papacy  and  the  modern  world  :  "  We  welcome 
this  book  and  all  its  kind,  for  the  service  they  do  in  showing  the  irrecon- 
cilableness of  the  issue  between  the  Roman  principle  and  everything  the 
modern  world  has  come  to  value  and  respect." 


The  Infallible  Papacy  245 

"  objectivity  "  and  the  honest  writing  of  history.  All 
this  only  proves  how  necessary  it  is  to  heed  the  warning 
of  the  gospel  against  those  who  come  to  us  in  sheep's 
clothing,  but  who  inwardly  are  ravening  wolves. 

More  celebrated  than  Janssen  as  an  exponent  of  the 
same  construction  of  history  is  Conrad  von  Bolanden, 
who  has  "  corrected  "  almost  every  period  of  German 
history.  In  his  Enemies  of  the  Empire,  the  chancellor, 
Marcus  Trebonius,  the  author  of  the  first  Diocletian  per- 
secution, bears  the  features  of  Prince  Bismarck;  his  four 
volumes  of  historical  novels  on  Frederick  the  Great  have 
drawn  the  picture  of  the  founder  of  the  Prussian  state 
after  the  method  usually  applied  to  Luther ;  and  his  other 
books  caricature  the  German  character  and  vilify  the 
Reformation  and  the  modern  world  of  ideas.  Yet  no 
German  author  has  so  widespread  an  influence. 

At  the  same  time  the  fabrication  of  novels,  which  has 
been  begun  in  the  papal  interest,  has  undertaken  to 
satisfy  the  demand  for  such  reading,  and  no  other  literary- 
products  of  this  class  but  those  that  have  passed  the 
censorship  of  the  confessor  can  find  an  entrance  into 
Catholic  families.  Whoever  studies  the  catalogues  or 
even  the  shop-windows  of  the  great  clerical  book  con- 
cerns in  the  centre  of  Catholic  Germany,  will  find  every 
year  new  works  in  numerous  editions  of  which  the  ordi- 
nary history  of  literature  takes  hardly  any  notice. 

More  influential  than  the  thick  volumes  of  history  with 
their  learned  notes,  more  influential  even  than  the  so- 
called  Catholic  novels,  are  the  numerous  collections  of 
pamphlets,  to  which  we  have  already  frequently  referred, 
from  which  the  speakers  of  the  Centre  have  for  some  time 
derived  their  historical  knowledge.  The  same  methods 
are  here  used  to  bring  awkward  historical  data  and  the 
problems  of  natural  science  and  philosophy  into  harmony 
with  dogma  ad  majorem  dei  gloriam.  Whether  the  re- 
presentations agree  with  the  truth  is  a  matter  of  very 


246  The  Papacy  ifi  the  igth  Centzcry 

little  moment.  There  had  been,  even  before  the  coun- 
cil, a  good  deal  of  activity  in  this  direction.  Neverthe- 
less we  observe  after  the  council  a  world-wide  difference 
from  before.  For  from  the  proclamation  of  the  in- 
fallibihty  dates,  strictly  speaking,  the  rise  of  the  clerical 
press,  which  disseminates  the  papal  construction  of  history 
among  the  masses.  From  year  to  year  the  organs  of 
clericalism  have  increased  in  number.  And  now  the 
same  language,  which  before  they  had  only  dared  to  use 
against  the  Hohenstaufen  emperors  or  the  reformers,  is 
applied  to  the  great  leaders  of  the  classical  period  of 
literature.  The  Jesuit  father,  Baumgarten,  has  already 
achieved  the  moral  assassination  of  Goethe. 

Not  yet  has  the  effort  been  successful,  as  it  was  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  to  separate  the  German  people  into 
two  hostile  camps.  But  Holland  is  to-day  a  striking 
illustration  of  the  far-reaching  results  of  Jesuit  training 
systematically  carried  out.  The  periodicals  and  news- 
papers of  the  Jesuits  have  there  trained  up  a  generation 
which  has  lost  every  feeling  for  the  glorious  struggles  for 
liberty  in  the  Netherlands. 

The  effect  of  the  clerical  universities  upon  the  popular 
life  is  shown  by  the  condition  of  Belgium.  The  French 
imitation,  under  the  third  republic,  of  these  so-called 
"  free  "  universities  is  of  too  recent  date  to  show  the  same 
effects  as  in  Belgium.  Germany  has  followed  suit,  and 
an  attempt  has  been  made  to  establish  "  free"  German 
universities.'      This  has  not  yet  been  successful.     But  in 

'  The  following  notice  found  in  the  New  York  Nation  of  July  14,  1898, 
will  be  of  interest  in  this  connection  in  explaining  the  true  nature  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  "  free  "  universities  : 

"  A  curious  episode  in  modern  university  annals  was  the  migration,  about 
half  a  year  ago,  of  eight  professors  of  the  so-called  '  free '  Roman  Catholic 
University  in  Freiburg  in  Switzerland.  This  institution  was  established 
some  six  or  seven  years  ago  for  the  special  purpose  of  demonstrating  that 
freedom  of  scientific  research  was  perfectly  compatible  with  the  spirit  and 
trend  of  the  Church.     It  was  called  '  free,'  in  contrast  to  the  universities  of 


The  Infallible  Papacy  247 

all  the  state  universities  sectarian  associations  of  students 
have  been  formed,  who  now  possess  their  own  song-books 
with  thoroughly  "  corrected  "  songs,  and  in  which  the 
young  generation  is  systematically  taught  to  look  for  the 
ideals  of  the  future,  not  to  Frederic  II.  and  Joseph  II., 
but  to  Ferdinand  II. ;  not  to  William  of  Orange,  but  to 
Philip  II. ;  not  to  Gustavus  Vasa  and  Gustavus  Adolfus, 
but  to  Sigismund  of  Poland;  not  to  Elizabeth,  but  to 
James  II. 

Not  only  history,  but  every  other  scientific  discipline 
has  been  similarly  affected  by  the  malign  influence  of 
papal  infallibility.  The  science  of  law  has  been  obliged 
with  much  labour  to  clear  a  path  through  the  immeasur- 
able network  of  frauds  upon  which  has  been  built  the 
pseudo-Isidorean  papal  law.  Natural  science  has  not 
only  had  to  lament  the  persecution  of  Giordano  Bruno 
and  Galilei,  but  is  to-day  challenged  by  every  new  canon- 
isation and  every  new  pretended  miracle.  We  claim, 
however,  for  historical  research  the  position  of  an  ad- 
vance guard.  Building  upon  the  foundation  of  empiri- 
cal investigation  as  laid  by  natural  science,  and  yet,  as  the 
history  of  man,   fixing  its  attention   intelligently  upon 

Germany,  Austria,  and  Switzerland,  which  were  regarded  as  controlled 
unduly  by  the  state.  Experience  has  now  shown  that  in  this  '  free '  uni- 
versity, the  '  Lehrfreiheit,'  the  ideal  so  dear  to  continental  scholars,  has  not 
been  able  to  establish  its  throne.  The  professors  who  have  severed  their 
connection  with  the  Freiburg  University,  namely,  Drs.  Effmann,  Gottlob, 
Hardy,  Jostes,  Lorkens,  von  Savigny,  Streitberg,  and  Sturm  (all,  we 
believe,  Roman  Catholic  laymen  and  Germans),  have  united  in  the  publi- 
cation of  a  Memorial  {Dettkschrift),  in  which  they  give  the  why  and  where- 
fore of  their  exodus.  From  this  document  it  is  apparent  that  the  French 
Dominican  monks  are  in  absolute  control  of  the  University,  and  any  teach- 
ings not  in  conformity  with  the  interests  of  this  order  have  in  recent  years 
brought  down  upon  the  heads  of  the  offenders  the  opposition  and  even  per- 
secution of  the  fathers,  which  finally  ended  in  withholding  the  salaries  of 
several  teachers  who  would  not  withdraw  views  not  acceptable  to  those  in 
authority.  The  Denkschrift  is  an  interesting  and  instructive  document, 
and  again  shows  how  inevitably  ecclesiastical  authority  and  freedom  of 
scientific  research  merely  for  truth's  sake  come  in  collision." 


248  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

the  deepest  impulse  that  humanity  knows  —  religious 
enthusiasm,  beyond  all  other  branches  of  science  it  has 
to  bear  the  most  embittered  hatred  of  Vaticanism,  For 
that  very  reason,  under  the  leadership  of  Dollinger,  it 
bears  the  banner  in  the  never-ceasing  struggle  between  a 
truth-loving  science  and  the  conceit  of  infallibility. 

The  undermining  of  the  state  and  the  destruction  of 
the  scientific  sense  of  truth  do  not  exhaust  the  fatal  herit- 
age which  the  principle  of  infallibility  leaves  to  the  future. 
For  the  state  and  science,  however  fundamental  as  factors 
in  the  development  of  civilisation,  are  but  subordinate  to 
that  factor  which,  after  all,  makes  men  men  —  religion. 
Only  the  knowledge  of  what  religion  has  become  under 
the  influence  of  papalism  enables  us  rightly  to  judge  its 
real  nature. 

In  order  to  obtain  a  complete  survey  of  the  effect  upon 
religion  of  the  infallible  dominion  of  the  Papacy,  we 
should  be  obliged  to  give  our  first  consideration  to  those 
countries  in  which  heretical  influences  are  as  good  as 
excluded.  But  with  the  success  of  the  policy  which 
seeks  to  build  impassable  barriers  between  the  Roman 
Catholic  population  and  their  fellow-citizens,  the  condi- 
tions in  countries  of  mixed  population  approach  those  of 
Spain  and  South  America.  In  Germany  it  has  proceeded 
so  far  that  Baedecker's  guide-books,  because  they  bear 
the  stamp  of  no  sect,  are  forbidden  by  the  clerical  press, 
and  others  are  substituted,  which  along  with  the  sacred 
places  recommend  Catholic  hotels  and  Catholic  shops. 
In  Germany  again,  where  there  are  state  and  communal 
savings-banks,  we  find  also  institutions  of  credit  founded 
for  Catholic  apprentices  and  Catholic  masters,  who 
through  them  reap  larger  dividends,  but  also  greater  de- 
pendence. There  are  even  musical  associations  and  con- 
certs with  the  sectarian  stamp ;  the  interdict  is  placed 
upon  mixed  societies  as  well  as  upon  mixed  schools. 


The  Infallible  Papacy  249 

No  one  who  has  not  from  infancy  lived  in  a  Catholic 
atmosphere  can  form  any  judgment  of  the  systematic 
transformation  of  a  population  by  nature  tolerant,  as  it 
has  been  gradually  brought  about  through  sectarian 
schools  forced  upon  them  by  unwise  statesmen,  and  as  it 
has  been  intensified  to  a  degree  of  overbearing  arrogance 
in  consequence  of  the  surrender  in  the  Kiilturkampf.  It 
is  no  longer  questioned  that  Christianity  consists  in  the 
subjection  of  the  nations  to  the  pope,  or  that  the  faith  of 
the  individual  rests  upon  the  sacrifice  of  the  reason.  The 
realisation  of  this  faith  in  life  consists  in  the  hatred  and 
persecution  of  dissenters.  Whoever  resists  the  motherly 
love  of  the  Church  must  sooner  or  later  fall  a  prey  to 
God's  vengeance.  Every  means  is  allowable  for  the 
making  of  proselytes.  A  man  like  Cardinal  Diepenbrock 
could  declare  to  a  Catholic  priest  that  it  did  not  matter 
even  if  the  man  whom  you  wished  to  convert  did  not 
believe  in  anything  himself,  if  only  by  his  submission  his 
children  could  be  won. 

The  prevalent  disgraceful  language  of  the  clerical  press 
is  an  indication  of  an  increasing  deterioration  of  all  ethi- 
cal conceptions  among  the  people.  What  Father  Curci 
reports  of  Italy,  that  the  gospels  of  the  New  Testament 
are  the  book  least  known  to  the  people,  represents  an 
ideal  which,  among  the  other  nations  subjected  to  the 
Papacy,  is  more  and  more  approaching  reality.  Can  it 
be  otherwise,  when  all  that  Christ  censures  and  opposes 
is  made  the  criterion  of  Christianity,  when  demonstrative 
processions  and  public  reading  of  the  breviary  take  the 
place  of  the  prayer  in  the  closet,  when  the  worship  of 
God  in  spirit  and  in  truth  is  materialised,  when  the  in- 
fallible man  in  Rome  is  put  in  the  place  of  Christ  ? 

The  entire  literature  of  devotion  is  carefully  purified 
from  the  evil  works  of  the  last  century,  which  know  a 
true  life  of  Christian  piety  only  as  an  ethical  life.  What 
happened  in  France  in  the  eighteenth  century  after  the 


250  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

prohibition  of  Quesnel's  work  on  the  New  Testament  is 
the  case  in  Germany  to-day.  In  the  place  of  a  devotion 
which  fostered  the  ethical  life  in  the  pursuit  of  life's 
vocation,  the  modern  Jesuit  religiosity  has  placed  Ma- 
donna-visions, the  cult  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  eijjorcisms, 
and  stigmatisations.  The  fact  that  Catharine  Emmerich 
was  judicially  proved  to  be  an  impostor  was  no  bar  to  the 
ecclesiastical  celebration  of  her  jubilee  and  the  glorifica- 
tion of  her  miracles  in  special  pamphlets.  A  drastic 
revelation  of  the  influence  of  the  modern  Jesuit  cults 
upon  the  popular  life  is  given  by  the  legal  action  con- 
nected with  the  miracles  of  Marpingen.*  The  latter 
were  a  favourite  argument  for  the  infallibility  in  the 
German  Kulturkampf,  and  in  the  historical  manual  of 
Cardinal  Hergenrother  they  are  treated  as  undoubted 
facts. 

"  God  will  allow  a  stronger  and  a  worse  Papacy  to 
come  up,  because  we  have  too  readily  submitted  to  the 
papistical  maxims."  The  nineteenth  century  has  taken 
every  pains  to  fulfil  this  prediction  of  the  pious  Spener 
and  to  leave  to  the  twentieth  century  an  inheritance  simi- 
lar to  that  which  the  seventeenth  had  prepared  for  the 
following  century,  before  the  second  reformation  to  which 
God  called  Spener.  Will  the  twentieth  century  return 
once  more  to  the  likeness  of  the  "  Frederician  era  "  ? 

•  The  Virgin  and  Satan  were  said  to  have  been  seen  by  children  and 
miracles  were  wrought,  in  1876.  See  The  Marpingen  Miracles  before  the 
Royal  Police-Court,  Saarbrilcken.  According  to  the  stenographic  report  (in 
German),  Saarlouis,  1879. 


PART  II 

CATHOLICISM  AND  PAPALISM  IN   ENGLAND 
AND  AMERICA 


251 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE   SO-CALLED   CATHOLIC   EMANCIPATION   IN   GREAT 
BRITAIN  ' 


FRANCE,  the  land  of  the  great  Revolution,  is  the 
centre  of  the  papal  reaction  in  the  nineteenth 
century.  From  France  the  movement  has  extended  in 
all  directions,  just  as  the  French  fashions  did  in  the  reign 
of  Louis  XIV.  and  in  the  era  of  the  encyclopedists.  The 
leaven  spread  from  France  first  to  its  northern  neighbour, 
the  Netherlands;  but  it  affected  in  no  less  degree  Catho- 
lic Switzerland  and  Western  Germany. 

In  all  these  countries  of  the  European  continent  the 
teachings  of  the  new  Papacy  found  the  soil  already  pre- 
pared. For  not  only  had  a  large  part  of  the  Catholic 
population  remained  devoted  to  the  papal  interests 
through  the  era  of  Illumination  in  the  last  century,  but 
the  same  population  had  suffered  almost  more  than  the 
French  from  the  horrors  and  the  havoc  of  the  Revolution, 
and  had  naturally  become  so  much  more  susceptible  to 
the  influence  of  the  Restoration-spirit.    These  conditions, 

'  It  has  been  the  custom  among  Roman  Catholics  in  Germany  to  repre- 
sent the  repressive  and  precautionary  measures  which  the  English  govern- 
ment since  the  Reformation  has  from  time  to  time  adopted  against  English 
Roman  Catholics  as  the  extreme  of  religious  intolerance  and  persecution. 
This  must  be  borne  in  mind  by  the  reader  as  the  point  of  view  from  which 
the  present  chapter  is  written.  Our  author's  protests  against  the  perversion 
of  English  history  and  the  false  ideas  of  religious  liberty  have  in  view  the 
misrepresentations  current  among  the  papists  of  Germany. 

253 


254  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

however,  which  told  powerfully  in  favour  of  papalism, 
were  entirely  absent  in  England,  among  the  people  of 
the  twofold  reformation,  the  victorious  opponents  of  the 
Revolution. 

And  yet,  even  during  the  storms  of  the  Revolution  the 
triumphs  of  the  Papacy  in  England  were  most  pro- 
nounced— a  fact  whose  explanation  is  to  be  found  not 
so  much  in  local  as  in  those  general  causes  which  lie  in 
the  very  nature  of  our  modern  spiritual  life.  The 
victories  of  Roman  Catholicism  in  England  are  but  the 
counterpart  to  the  progress  of  Protestantism  in  all  those 
countries  which  had  before  been  hermetically  closed 
against  it.  There  is  a  remarkable  balancing  of  gain  and 
loss  between  the  opposing  churches,  as  is  seen  by  a  com- 
parison of  general  statistics.  And  this  peculiar  phenom- 
enon is  the  result  not  only  of  the  physical  changes  that 
have  taken  place,  of  mixed  intercourse,  of  more  fre- 
quent travelling,  and  of  the  mingling  of  the  most  diverse 
nationalities;  but  is  largely  due  to  the  modern  principle 
of  liberty  of  conscience. 

For,  ever  since  this  ancient  Christian  principle  has  won 
the  battle  over  ecclesiastical  ambition  and  greed,  the 
oppressed  of  every  country  enjoy  the  advantages  of  free 
motion  and  general  toleration.  And,  in  England  as  else- 
where, the  oppressed  minority  has  profited  by  the  modern 
spirit.  Catholic  emancipation,  long  resisted  and  finally 
carried  out  by  its  former  opponents,  is  directly  traceable 
to  the  universal  spiritual  process,  which  has  made  itself 
everywhere  felt  since  the  American  war  of  revolution  and 
the  so-called  ideas  of  1789. 

More  difificult  to  understand  than  Catholic  emancipa- 
tion is  the  immense  stream  of  conversions,  by  which  the 
English,  so  proud  of  their  liberty,  were  brought  in  droves 
to  submit  to  the  authority  of  the  pope.  Nevertheless, 
with  emancipation  to  prepare  the  way,  we  shall  learn  to 
understand  these  conversions  as  in  no  way  the  result  of 


Catholic  Einancipatioji  in  Great  Britain     255 

mere  chance.  But  not  only  do  the  general  causes  and 
the  several  stages  of  this  movement  deserve  a  closer 
examination  than  has  hitherto  been  given  them  ;  we  must 
turn  our  attention  also  to  the  reaction  and  to  the  ultimate 
effect  of  these  conversions  upon  the  English  Church 
itself. 

Catholic  emancipation  and  the  multitude  of  conver- 
sions raised  the  hopes  of  the  Curia  for  the  ultimate  sub- 
mission of  England  to  the  Papacy,  and  Pius  IX.  knew 
what  he  was  about  when,  in  the  year  1850,  to  show  his 
gratitude  for  the  Emancipation  Act,  he  established  the 
papal  hierarchy  alongside  of  the  national.  He  showed 
a  like  prudent  calculation  a  few  years  later  (1853)  when 
the  same  step  was  taken  in  Holland.  In  both  cases  the 
result  was  the  same.  After  a  period  of  high  but  short- 
lived popular  excitement  both  England  and  Holland 
submitted  to  the  papal  encroachment.  England  has 
been  taught  by  her  experience  in  Ireland  the  conse- 
quences of  the  complaisance  she  has  shown  to  the  Papacy. 
The  history  of  Ireland  in  the  last  years  affords  the 
most  instructive  illustration  of  the  blessings  of  infallible 
Vaticanism  in  its  influence  upon  faith  and  morals,  upon 
domestic  and  national  welfare ;  and  the  almost  uninter- 
rupted series  of  open  assassinations  and  secret  conspir- 
acies, by  which  every  act  of  leniency  and  of  toleration 
on  the  part  of  the  English  was  answered,  may  well  be 
considered  a  prognostic  of  the  ultimate  influence  which 
the  British  conversions  will  exert  upon  the  following 
generation. 

We  take  up  now  the  first  of  those  memorable  phenom- 
ena, about  which  the  entire  Catholic  Church  history  of 
Great  Britain  in  the  nineteenth  century  groups  itself,  the 
so-called  Catholic  emancipation  —  that  is,  the  repeal  of 
those  laws  which  limited  the  political  rights  of  Roman 
Catholics.     So  many  erroneous  opinions  are  still  held  in 


256  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

regard  to  these  laws,  that  their  origin  and  execution  de- 
mands some  explanation. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  English  history  contains 
abundant  evidence  of  intolerance  towards  Roman  Catho- 
lics, and  we  have  no  desire  to  palliate  the  far-reaching 
consequences  of  religious  hatred  such  as  prevailed  in 
former  generations  in  Great  Britain.  But  we  must  also 
remember  this  lesson,  which  English  history  teaches  us, 
that  English  legislation  against  the  Church  of  Rome  was 
not  simply  the  expression  of  religious  persecution. 

It  is  not  just  to  compare  the  duty  of  self-defence 
against  an  open  enemy,  whose  challenge  is  to  a  life-and- 
death  struggle,  to  whom  all  means  for  the  destruction  of 
his  opponent  are  equally  just,  with  that  spirit  of  persecu- 
tion which  is  of  the  very  essence  of  the  papal  principle. 
The  inalienable  duty  of  the  national  leaders  to  find  means 
of  protection  against  the  political  dangers  with  which  the 
papal  policy  for  centuries  threatened  England,  brought 
great  hardships  upon  the  British  Catholics.  But  we 
have  no  right  to  blame  the  result  and  to  ignore  the 
cause. 

The  history  of  England  since  the  Reformation  shows 
frequent  attempts  to  repeal  the  oppressive  laws.  Such 
were  the  transactions  of  the  year  1648.  It  was  proposed 
at  that  time  to  extend  toleration  to  all  those  who  should 
repudiate  the  following  three  propositions:  that  the  pope 
had  the  power  to  release  a  subject  from  obedience  to  his 
government,  that  he  could  grant  dispensation  from  an 
oath  given  to  a  heretic,  and  that  it  was  lawful  upon  his 
command  to  kill  those  whom  he  had  condemned  as 
heretics.  Fifty-nine  English  Catholic  noblemen,  besides 
a  number  of  priests,  had  declared  themselves  against 
these  propositions.  But  Innocent  X.  immediately  pro- 
nounced that  whoever  had  subscribed  to  this  declaration 
made  himself  liable  to  the  penalties  imposed  upon  the 
denial  of  the  papal  power.     "  For  this  reason  the  penal 


Catholic  Emancipation  in  07" eat  Britain     257 

laws  against  the  Catholics  remained  in  force  for  more 
than  a  century  longer."  ' 

Let  us,  in  the  interest  of  unbiassed  history,  stigmatise 
every  religious  persecution,  but  let  it  be  done  with  even- 
handed  justice,  wherever  we  find  it,  in  this  church  or  in 
that.  It  is  not  just  to  speak  of  the  martyrdom  of  papists 
under  Henry  VIII.  and  to  ignore  the  fact  that  he  con- 
demned to  death  a  far  larger  number  of  those  of  the 
reformed  faith.  It  is  equally  unjust  to  parade  the  op- 
pression of  Catholics  under  Elizabeth  and  to  conceal  the 
number  of  Protestants  Bloody  Mary  had  sent  to  the  stake. 
It  is  unhistorical  to  paint  romantic  pictures  of  the  beauti- 
ful Mary  Stuart  and  to  draw  a  veil  over  the  attempts 
upon  the  life  of  Elizabeth  by  her  adherents,  attempts 
whose  plans  are  traced  very  near  to  Mary  herself. 

Up  to  the  present  time  only  timid  efforts  have  been 
ventured  towards  attributing  the  expedition  of  the  great 
Armada  to  Philip  II.'s  interest  in  religious  liberty.  But 
this  is  what  we  are  coming  to,  among  those  who  talk  of 
the  suppression  of  religious  liberty  in  England,  who 
would  lead  you  to  think  there  had  never  been  such  things 
as  the  papal  deposition  of  Elizabeth,  the  powder  plot 
under  James  I.,  the  Irish  massacre  under  Charles  I.,  and 
the  intrigues  against  popular  liberty  of  the  convert 
James  II. 

It  was  precisely  these  events  which  obliged  England 
to  have  recourse  to  measures  of  defence.  Nor  was  it 
otherwise  in  the  last  great  duel  between  Louis  XIV.  and 
William  III.  of  Orange.  The  reign  of  William  taught 
mutual  toleration  to  warring  Episcopalians  and  Presby- 
terians, and  even  relieved  the  hated  revolutionary  sects 
of  Baptists  and  Quakers  of  the  persecutions  they  had 
suffered.  But  is  it  reasonable  to  expect,  at  the  time 
when  Louis  XIV.  gave  to  French  Protestantism  its 
death-blow,  that  William  III.  should  rise  to  the  standard 

'  Quirinus,  Roman  Letters  from  the  Council. 


258  The  Papacy  171  the  igth  Ce^ittiry 

of  the  nineteenth  century  and  risk  his  own  and  his 
country's  very  existence  ?  It  is  true  that,  after  the 
battle  of  the  Boyne,  the  Orange  lodges  of  Irish  Protest- 
ants imitated  the  example  of  the  Jesuits;  it  is  also  true 
that  the  London  festival  of  Guy  Fawkes'  day  in  so  far 
copied  the  autodafes  as  to  burn  an  effigy  in  revenge  for 
the  death  agonies  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  living 
victims.  But  we  may  not  forget  that  only  with  the 
dawn  of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  the  creation  of 
Louis  XIV.  had  crumbled  into  ruins,  did  the  idea  of 
general  religious  liberty  become  first  a  philosophical 
doctrine  and  then  was  made  the  common  possession  of 
all  those  whom  the  Papacy  declares  to  be  unbelievers. 

Nevertheless,  however  necessary  the  laws  against 
Roman  Catholics  may  have  been  for  the  defence  of  Eng- 
land, this  does  not  alter  the  fact  that  these  laws  were 
opposed  to  the  recognition,  now  rapidly  spreading,  of 
the  modern  principle  of  universal  liberty  of  conscience. 
If  from  the  time  of  the  papal  deposition  of  Elizabeth  to 
the  days  when  William  III.'s  life  was  attempted  and  the 
time  of  the  repeated  invasions  of  the  Stuart  pretenders 
(171 5  and  1745)  it  was  high  treason,  not  only  in  name  but 
in  fact,  to  obey  the  commands  of  the  pope  against  the 
government  of  the  country,  the  consequent  liability  of 
every  Roman  priest  to  the  penalties  of  felony  could  not 
but  be  pregnant  with  evil  for  the  future.  Still  more  in- 
vidious was  another  measure,  by  which  the  property  of  a 
Catholic  went  to  the  nearest  Protestant  heir,  if  the  former 
had  been  educated  in  foreign  parts,  and  every  Protestant 
son  of  a  Catholic  father  was  permitted  to  claim  his  in- 
heritance during  the  life  of  the  latter. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  very  measures  which  were 
designed  to  secure  the  outward  influence  of  the  state 
Church  could  not  but  very  seriously  undermine  her  moral 
power.  The  exclusion  by  the  Test  Acts  from  public 
office  and   from  Parliament  alienated  Roman  Catholics 


Catholic  Emancipation  in  Great  Britaiji    259 

from  the  rest  of  the  population.  The  adherents  of  all 
other  forms  of  worship  were  obliged  to  pay  tithes  to  the 
Episcopal  Church,  and  had  at  the  same  time  to  provide 
for  their  own  churches  and  schools,  while  the  state 
Church  was  suffering  from  a  system  of  sinecures  in  the 
hands  of  a  mercenary  clergy.  And  naturally,  this  condi- 
tion of  things  won  increased  respect  among  their  flocks 
for  the  poor  Roman  clergy. 

But  it  takes,  as  a  rule,  a  long  time  before  such  experi- 
ences impress  themselves  upon  the  popular  imagination. 
When  in  1780  Lord  Saville  proposed  some  slight  mitiga- 
tion of  the  "  Act  for  preventing  the  further  growth  of 
popery"  of  William  III.,  the  dangerous  Gordon  riots 
(described  in  Dickens'  Barnaby  Rudge)  proved  how  deep- 
seated  in  the  popular  consciousness  was  the  feeling  against 
the  Papacy.  Nevertheless,  before  the  end  of  the  last 
century  a  change  had  taken  place  in  the  position  of  Eng- 
lish Catholicism.  For  not  only  was  Lord  Saville's  law 
soon  afterwards  passed  in  spite  of  the  Gordon  riots,  even 
the  establishment,  by  Thomas  Weld,  of  the  Jesuit  col- 
lege of  Stonyhurst,  near  Liverpool,  was  sanctioned,  and" 
many  French  priests,  who  had  refused  the  oath  and  fled 
to  England,  found  a  welcome  there  and  were  able  ta 
exert  a  certain  influence  in  the  times  of  the  first  conver- 
sions to  Rome. 

Immediately  after  the  period  of  the  Revolution,  the 
liberal  party  embodied  in  its  platform  the  repeal  of  the 
Test  Acts  which  had  closed  the  public  offices  to  Roman 
Catholics.  The  spirit  of  the  times  was  in  favour  of  the 
abolition  of  the  old  restrictions.  As  early  as  18 17  a 
motion  for  the  repeal  was  made  in  Parliament.  For  a 
considerable  time  the  attempt  was  frustrated  by  the 
resistance  of  the  Upper  House.  As  late  as  the  year  1824 
the  Peers  rejected  the  so-called  Emancipation.  But  re- 
sistance only  increased  the  efforts  of  those  who  were 


26o  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Ce^ititry 

determined  to  extend  the  principle  of  liberty  of  conscience 
even  to  its  opponents.  Consalvi,  acting  for  the  pope, 
brought  his  expert  influence  to  bear  upon  English  states- 
men. The  Chevalier  Bunsen,  as  Prussian  ambassador  in 
Rome,  used  his  English  connections  to  the  same  purpose. 

The  chief  objection  which  was  made  by  those  who 
stood  up  for  the  old  laws  lay  in  the  papal  encroachments 
and  pretensions.  This  objection  was  overcome  by  the 
official  declaration  again  made  by  the  Roman  Catholic 
bishops  of  Ireland  (following  upon  former  declarations 
made  in  1661,  1757,  1788,  1793,  and  1810),  to  the  effect 
that  the  Catholic  Church  does  not  teach  the  infallibility  of 
the  pope.  This  "  declaration,"  made  in  the  year  1826  by 
the  Catholic  bishops,  the  apostolic  vicars,  and  their  coad- 
jutors, not  only  stands  as  an  unequivocal  testimony  to 
the  doctrine  of  the  Church  as  it  was  then  held,  but  is  in- 
vested with  a  peculiarly  solemn  character,  because  it  was 
upon  the  ground  of  this  declaration  (sanctioned  by  the 
Curia)  that  emancipation  was  demanded.  And  during 
the  sessions  of  the  Vatican  Council  in  1870  a  number  of 
the  older  English  bishops  expressed  themselves  emphatic- 
ally to  the  effect  that  English  Catholics  had  obtained  their 
political  and  legal  position  in  consequence  of  the  repeated 
declaration  and  upon  the  express  condition,  that  they  do 
not  teach  the  doctrine  of  papal  infallibility.  Gladstone's 
pamphlet  on  the  Vatican  decrees  has  recorded  the  arts  of 
deception  which  have  been  resorted  to  in  order  to  gloss 
over  this  inconvenient  fact. 

The  declaration  of  the  bishops  seemed  to  prove  that 
the  repeal  of  the  Test  Acts  threatened  no  danger  to  the 
state,  and  under  the  last  ministry  of  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton and  after  a  celebrated  speech  by  Sir  Robert  Peel,  the 
Tories  carried  through  the  programme  of  the  Whigs. 
On  the  13th  of  April,  1829,  the  royal  sanction  was  given 
to  the  act  of  both  Houses,  which  opened  Parliament  and 
the  public  offices  to  Roman  Catholics  on  condition  of 


Catholic  Emancipation  in  Great  Britain    261 

taking  an  oath  of  allegiance  which  was  worded  in  general 
terms. 

The  stone  once  set  rolling,  almost  every  year  brought 
new  gains  to  the  Papacy.  The  Irish  Ecclesiastical  En- 
dowment Act,  which  abolished  a  half  of  the  bishoprics  of 
the  Irish  state  Church  and  thereby  called  forth  the  first 
opposition  of  the  Puseyite  party,  was  a  new  concession  to 
the  papal  Church.  The  same  motive  induced  the  Peel 
ministry  to  enact  the  inheritance  bill,  by  which  testaments 
in  favour  of  the  Church  of  Rome  and  her  institutions, 
orders  excepted,  were  permitted.  Not  long  afterwards 
followed  the  state  endowment  of  the  Jesuit  seminary  of 
Maynooth.  In  1847  fo^'"  more  royal  colleges  were  estab- 
lished at  the  expense  of  the  state,  at  which  religious  in- 
struction was  left  in  the  hands  of  the  Church.  But  when 
Pius  IX.  proclaimed  the  so-called  restitution  of  the  hier- 
archy in  England,  the  hopes  of  the  Curia  had  been  raised 
to  such  a  degree  that  attendance  at  these  state  colleges 
was  forbidden. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  ENGLISH  CONVERSIONS  AND  THEIR  CONSEQUENCES 

FOR   THE   ENGLISH   CHURCH — THE   OXFORD 

MOVEMENT' 

WE  have  traced  the  so-called  Catholic  Emancipation 
chiefly  to  the  spirit  of  the  times ;  but  this  explan- 
ation will  not  suffice  for  the  second  phenomenon  to  which 
we  now  turn  our  attention :  the  stream  of  conversions  to 
the  Church  of  Rome.  There  must  be  other  deeper  lying 
causes  for  the  fact  that  large  numbers  of  this  people,  so 
proud  of  its  ancient  liberties,  bowed  their  necks  under 
the  Caudine  yoke  of  recantation,  and  more  especially, 
that  it  became  the  fashion  among  the  upper  ten  thousand 
to  kiss  the  pope's  foot.  A  correct  appreciation  of  these 
causes  is  of  far  greater  importance  to  the  historian  than 
the  statistics  of  the  converts  with  their  titles  and  incomes, 
which  is  the  favourite  theme  of  the  Vatican  press. 

Among  the  motives  which  led  to  the  conversions  were 
some  which  were  specifically  ecclesiastical,  but  we  shall 
also  have  to  consider  a  series  of  more  general  factors  in 
the  process,  partly  preparatory,  partly  co-operant.  And, 
in  a  reactionary  tendency  such  as  we  have  before  us,  we 
must  not  fail  to  look  for  those  underlying  ideals,  without 
which  we  shall  be  entirely  unable  to  understand  the 
significance  of  this  or  indeed  of  any  other  movement. 

'  The  German  point  of  view  from  which  this  chapter  is  written  must 
again  be  borne  in  mind.  The  Romeward  movement  in  England  was  the 
cause  of  exultation  to  German  papists,  and  they  made  a  great  show  with  the 
names  of  English  converts. 

262 


The  Oxford  Movement  263 

Among  the  preparatory  causes  we  place  the  social  in- 
fluence of  the  immigrant  foreign  priests,  and  the  romantic 
literature  and  poetry,  in  which  the  influence  of  Scott,* 
Byron,  and  Moore  was  supreme.  But  it  lay  in  the  nature 
of  things  that  the  seed  already  sown  could  bear  fruit  only 
after  emancipation  had  prepared  the  soil.  How  great 
were  the  expectations  which  emancipation  raised  in 
Rome  is  proved  by  the  well-known  statement  of  the 
Count  de  Maistre,  who  declared  the  acquisition  of  the 
Church  of  St.  Peter  in  Geneva  and  of  St.  Sophia  in  Con- 
stantinople to  be  the  necessary  consequences  of  English 
Catholic  emancipation.  And  we  read  elsewhere  this  pre- 
diction, that  "  with  the  25th  of  April,  1829,  there  begins 
a  new  era;  the  entrance  of  O'Connell  into  Parliament 
and  his  refusal  to  take  the  oath  of  supremacy  have  given 
the  signal  for  the  religious  regeneration  which  sooner  or 
later,  but  inevitably,  must  lead  to  the  most  complete 
victory  of  the  new  faith."  In  fact,  we  see  that  the  con- 
cessions obtained  through  emancipation  were  used  as  a 
stepping-stone  to  new  favours  for  the  papal  Church. 

Among  the  factors  which  from  the  beginning  co- 
operated towards  the  same  end,  we  have  also  to  consider 
the  political  events  since  the  July  revolution  of  1830. 
The  friendly  relations  to  the  young  Belgian  state,  and 
especially  the  high  estimation  in  which  King  Leopold 
was  held  among  the  leading  classes  of  England,  influ- 
enced English  statesmen  more  and  more  in  favour  of  the 

'  "The  following  of  Walter  Scott's  novels  are  especially  used  in  the 
interests  of  the  Papacy  :  Waverley,  with  the  character  of  Flora  ;  Rob  Roy 
(where  the  heroine  and  her  father  represent  the  Roman  faith) ;  Montrose 
and  Woodstock,  with  the  struggles  in  behalf  of  Charles  I.  and  II.  ;  more 
particularly,  Old  Mortality  and  Heart  of  Midlothian,  with  their  repulsive 
caricatures  of  puritanical  fanaticism  ;  and  Peveril  of  the  Peak,  where  the 
papistical  conspirators  appear  as  patient  lambs  and  the  defenders  of  Protest- 
antism as  persecutors.  The  novels  of  the  crusades,  also,  as  well  as  Ivan- 
hoe  and  Quenti7t  Durward,  throwing  a  romantic  nimbus  about  the  middle 
ages  ;  and  the  twin  volumes,  Monastery  and  Abbot,  especially  in  the  last 
part,  are  used  with  great  skill," — Note  in  the  literary-critical  supplement. 


264  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

example  which  Belgium  had  set  in  the  treatment  of 
religious  questions. 

Other  causes,  of  entirely  different  nature,  contributed 
to  bring  about  the  same  result.  The  distrust,  which  had 
prevailed  in  Great  Britain  since  the  time  of  Frederick  the 
Great,  towards  German  neology  was  greatly  increased  by 
the  appearance  of  Strauss'  Life  of  Jesus  and  Feuerbach's 
Nature  of  Christianity.  At  the  same  time,  the  Prussian 
ecclesiastical  policy  with  its  police  interference  appeared 
to  the  English  as  one  of  rude  violence.  And  the  increas- 
ing alienation  from  their  former  allies,  from  the  home  of 
the  Reformation  and  of  modern  philosophy,  carried  with 
it  an  alienation  from  the  lasting  impulse  of  Reformation 
ideas.  Furthermore,  with  the  growing  inroads  of  the 
dissenters  among  the  adherents  of  the  state  Church  grew 
the  opposition  of  the  latter  towards  the  so-called  sects; 
and  the  Church  itself  was  driven  more  and  more  in  the 
opposite  direction.  The  greater,  in  fact,  the  progress  of 
political  and  religious  radicalism,  so  much  the  more  re- 
actionary grew  the  conservative  tendency  in  politics  as 
well  as  in  religion. 

The  prevailing  tendencies  of  thought  outside  the  An- 
glican Church  help  us  to  understand  why  within  the 
Church  itself  anti-Protestant  inclinations  so  frequently 
triumphed  over  its  Protestant  character.  But  we  must 
take  into  consideration  also  the  reaction  from  the  evan- 
gelical school,  in  order  fully  to  understand  the  new  high- 
Church  tendency.  This  school  had  been  very  influential 
towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  from  its 
union  with  dissenters  proceeded  the  great  Bible  and 
missionary  societies,  and  with  them  the  aspiration  towards 
an  ideal  Catholicism.  But,  as  had  been  the  case  with 
Lutherans  and  Calvinists  on  the  Continent,  so  here  An- 
glican sectarianism  took  up  arms  against  these  creations 
of  an  era  of  tolerance  and  enlightenment. 

At  the  same  time,  the  repeal  of  the  Test  Acts  drove 


The  Oxford  Movement  265 

the  high-Church  party  into  opposition  to  the  policy  of 
the  government.  And  not  without  reason.  For,  the 
ecclesiastical  convocations  having  fallen  into  disuse  and 
Parliament  having  assumed  ultimate  authority  over 
Church  affairs,  the  constitution  of  the  state  Church  was 
dangerously  affected  by  the  repeal.  Dissenters  and 
Roman  Catholics  now  sat  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
And  the  House  of  Commons  did  not  hesitate  to  pass  the 
Irish  Ecclesiastical  Properties  Act,  by  which  ten  Irish 
bishoprics  were  dissolved,  without  any  consideration  for 
the  apostolical  succession  of  their  occupants.  Cambridge 
being  the  centre  of  the  low-Church  tendencies,  the  bitter 
feeling  over  these  measures  made  itself  particularly  felt 
at  Oxford.  Here  Thomas  Arnold,  Whately,  and  Hamp- 
den had  not  long  before  taught  in  the  spirit  of  the  later 
broad-Church  school.  But  from  the  year  1833  (the  year 
of  the  Irish  Ecclesiastical  Properties  Act)  Oxford  became 
the  centre  of  Puseyism. 

The  movement  which  is  associated  with  the  name  of 
Pusey  was  really  far  from  new.  It  had  a  number  of  pre- 
cursors. From  the  very  beginning  the  English  Church 
had  intended  to  occupy  the  middle  ground  between 
Catholicism  and  Protestantism,  and  the  old  high-Church 
school  had  emphasised  their  relationship  with  the  Church 
of  Rome  and  their  repudiation  of  Protestant  sects. 

Without  doubt  this  middle  position  of  the  Church  of 
England  is  an  important  factor,  not  only  in  the  national 
development,  but  in  the  universal  progress  of  humanity. 
And  the  hope  that  the  amalgamation  of  the  Catholic  and 
the  Protestant  principles,  first  realised  in  England,  is 
destined  to  play  a  highly  important  part  in  the  future,  is 
justified  by  the  victorious  opposition  of  a  national  Catho- 
licism in  the  United  States  of  America  to  the  invasion  of 
Roman  ecclesiasticism. 

Nevertheless  we  may  not  ignore  those  elements  in  the 


266  The  Papacy  m  the  igth  Century 

Catholicism  of  the  Church  of  England  which  might  easily 
cause  a  gravitation  towards  the  Church  of  Rome.  The 
Church  of  England  has  never  realised  the  Catholic  ideal 
in  its  purity :  for  it  has  lacked  the  necessary  attributes 
of  freedom  and  independence.  Henry  VIII.  and  Eliza- 
beth, and,  to  a  greater  degree,  the  Stuarts  and  the  first 
Hanoverians,  exercised  an  arbitrary  ecclesiastical  tyranny, 
and  the  system  of  James  I.,  under  the  principle  "  No 
bishop,  no  king,"  made  of  the  Church  a  means  to  a 
political  end.  The  supremacy  of  the  crown  thus  ap- 
peared to  be  inconsistent  with  the  independence  of  the 
Church,  and  it  was  quite  natural  that  the  only  alternative 
should  seem  to  be  the  primacy  of  the  Roman  bishop, 
whose  authority  the  king  had  usurped. 

The  very  defects  of  the  national  Church  thus  led  to  an 
idealisation  of  the  papal  system.  But  it  is  also  to  be 
noted  that  the  Anglo-Catholic  conception  of  the  Church 
itself  carried  with  it  an  element  which  would  necessarily 
favour  a  tendency  in  the  same  direction,  and  as  a  result 
of  this  tendency  we  find  in  the  Tractarian  movement  a 
decided  approach  to  Roman  doctrine.  Not  the  invisible 
kingdom  of  God,  but  the  visible  Church,  represented  by 
the  hierarchy,  was  held  to  be  the  sole  exponent  of  revela- 
tion. The  bishops  have  received  from  the  apostles  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Without  this  apostolical  succes- 
sion there  is  no  true  Church.  The  fellowship  with  Christ 
is  conditioned  upon  the  fellowship  with  the  bishops  as 
the  successors  of  the  apostles. 

With  the  teaching  of  the  apostolical  succession  is  con- 
nected that  of  ecclesiastical  tradition.  The  more  dissent- 
ers appealed  to  the  Scriptures  against  the  high  Church, 
so  much  more  were  the  defenders  of  the  latter  thrown 
upon  tradition — "  a  turn  of  the  dispute,"  so  an  acute 
observer  said,  "  which  led  the  party  farther  in  the  Catho- 
lic direction  than  they  had  wished  or  intended."  And, 
as  a  logical  consequence,  the  Bible  was  accepted  as  the 


The  Oxford  Movement  267 

rule  of  faith  only  as  interpreted  by  tradition,  and  the 
right  of  authoritative  exposition  of  Scripture  was  allowed 
solely  to  the  Church  as  the  keeper  of  tradition. 

The  same  tendency  affected  the  doctrine  of  the  sacra- 
ments. Baptism,  not  faith,  justifies.  The  Holy  Com- 
munion stands  or  falls  with  the  real  presence  of  Christ. 
And  finally,  the  rest  of  the  Catholic  sacraments,  celibacy 
and  the  monastic  life,  the  adoration  of  saints  and  relics, 
were  justified ;  it  is  only  necessary  to  guard  against  the 
abuse  to  which  for  a  time  they  were  liable.  This  re- 
actionary tendency  was  only  partially  carried  through  in 
the  so-called  Puseyite  movement ;  it  was  left  to  Ritualism 
to  supplement  what  was  wanting. 

We  find  these  fundamental  ideas  of  the  "  Catholic 
movement  "  emphasised  by  Pusey's  American  biographer, 
John  Henry  Hopkins,  in  the  American  ChurcJi  Review 
(January,  1883),  who  himself  claims  to  be  an  enthusiastic 
adherent  of  this  movement.  He,  too,  asserts  that  the 
conception  of  the  Church  lies  at  the  foundation  of  the 
Catholic  movement,  the  Church  as  founded  by  Christ  and 
the  apostles,  and  therefore  independent  of  Parliament  or 
of  Congress.  He  finds  the  apostolical  succession  as  well 
as  the  doctrine  of  the  sacraments,  especially  the  real 
presence,  justified  by  the  belief  in  the  divine  life  of  Christ 
in  the  Church  and  its  worship.  His  contentions  give  not 
only  to  the  Tractarians  but  also  to  the  Ritualists  a  more 
reasonable  basis.  The  revival  of  ancient  ecclesiastical 
architecture,  music,  and  hymnology,  the  restoration  of 
old  forms  of  dress  and  rites,  not  only  have  for  their  ob- 
ject the  honour  and  glory  of  ecclesiastical  mysteries,  but 
also  serve  the  pedagogical  purpose  of  increasing  the  at- 
traction of  the  Church  for  the  uneducated  masses. 
Either,  says  Hopkins,  the  workingman  must  be  won  for 
the  Church  by  these  and  similar  means  or  he  falls  a  prey 
to  Moody  and  Sankey  and  the  Salvation  Army  on  the 
one  hand,  to  the  Roman  Propaganda  on  the  other. 


268  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

The  Tracts  for  the  Times,  whose  publication  began  in 
1 833?  which  is  generally  supposed  to  mark  the  beginning 
of  the  Roman  movement  in  the  Church  of  England,  have 
a  long  introductory  history,  and  before  we  enter  upon  the 
consideration  of  the  Tractarian  movement,  in  its  various 
stages,  and  of  its  after-effects,  it  will  be  in  place  to  take 
a  survey  of  the  earlier  more  isolated  cases  of  apostasy  to 
the  Church  of  Rome  —  sporadic  conversions  which  we 
must  distinguish  from  the  Puseyite  movement  proper  and 
its  later  excrescences. 

As  early  as  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  occurs 
the  name  of  one  who  preceded  Manning  and  his  asso- 
ciates in  their  new  ecclesiastical  career,  the  subsequent 
London  apostolical  vicar  and  bishop  in partibus,  Bramston 
(died  1836),  and  we  read  a  similar  story  in  the  life  of 
Baggs  (died  1845),  who  was  influenced  by  his  Irish 
mother,  and  was  afterwards  particularly  favoured  by 
Gregory  XVI.  In  the  first  decade  of  this  century  we 
meet  only  with  a  few  officers  and  noblemen,  converted 
in  France,  important  for  nothing  but  their  names,  like 
Lord  Stuart  and  Lord  Holland,  and  with  a  number  of 
ladies,  who  either  married  into  French  families  (Polignac, 
Choiseul,  Delange),  or  were  influenced  from  France ;  who 
in  their  turn  influenced  a  larger  number  of  others,  of  the 
nobility  and  of  the  middle  classes. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  the  long  list  of  annual 
conversions  the  female  element  is  predominant  and  has 
precedence  in  point  of  time.  Modern  proselytism  in 
England  began  with  the  women,  in  order  by  their  in- 
fluence gradually  to  win  over  the  families,  at  least  in  the 
second  generation.  In  this  process  there  was  little  scruple 
as  to  the  morality  of  the  means,  as  is  proved  by  the 
account  of  Miss  Loveday's  conversion,  which  has  been 
published  in  German  as  "a  memorable  contribution 
to  the  history  of  religious  toleration  in  the  nineteenth 
century  "  (1822).     The  deluded  father  is  here  pictured 


The  Oxford  Movement  269 

as  the  representative  of  intolerance.  The  truth  of  the 
matter  was  that  his  daughter  had  not  only  been  secretly 
converted,  but  was  hidden  from  him  for  a  considerable 
time  in  various  French  convents,  so  that  the  French 
Parliament  engaged  in  lively  debates  upon  the  subject  of 
this  outrageous  abduction. 

Still  more  characteristic  is  the  story  of  Miss  Pittar's 
conversion,  translated  into  French  by  Mermillod  (1861), 
the  title  of  the  translation  representing  her  as  "  a  Pro- 
testant woman  converted  by  her  Bible  and  the  Prayer- 
book."  She  was  influenced  to  conversion  behind  her 
husband's  back ;  and  after  his  death  she  took  away  her 
children  from  the  care  of  their  guardians.  As  a  reward 
for  her  pains,  both  of  her  sons  became  Jesuits. 

Among  the  female  converts  before  the  time  of  Newman 
and  his  friends  we  find  a  Miss  Gladstone.  Her  illustrious 
brother  had  himself  been  strongly  influenced  by  the 
Tractarian  movement,  in  the  time  when  he  wrote  his  first 
work  upon  Church  and  State.  It  may  have  been  chiefly 
his  close  relations  with  Bunsen  which  counteracted  New- 
man's overpowering  influence,  to  which  many  of  Glad- 
stone's nearest  relatives  and  friends  succumbed.  It  is 
necessary  to  recall  these  earlier  years  of  Gladstone's  de- 
velopment in  order  to  realise  in  its  full  significance  his 
later  attitude  against  "  Vaticanism."  With  this  anti- 
Roman  position  of  his  maturer  age  the  subsequent  atti- 
tude of  his  sister  presents  a  remarkable  parallel.  In  spite 
of  her  conversion  to  the  Roman  Church  we  find  in  her 
the  same  distinction  of  papalism  and  Catholicism,  which 
afterwards  placed  even  Newman  for  a  time  in  opposition 
to  the  new  dogma  and  brought  him  into  discredit  with 
Pius  IX.  Miss  Gladstone  died  some  years  after  the 
Vatican  Council  under  the  spiritual  ministrations  of  the 
old-Catholic  pastor  Tangermann  in  Cologne. 

More  important,  however,  than  the  list  of  converts  is 
the  polemic  literature  of  the  time  which  appeared  under 


270  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centtiry 

their  names.  Miss  Agnew's  Geraldine,  a  Tale  of  Con- 
science (1837),  became  the  type  of  an  extensive  literature 
of  fiction  representing  the  course  of  conversion.  Geral- 
dine passed  through  numerous  EngHsh  editions  and  three 
successive  translations  into  German  were  undertaken. 
Among  other  books  of  the  same  kind  we  may  mention 
Sir  Leopold  Wright's  Return  to  the  CatJiolic  C/mrch,  in 
the  form  of  a  letter,  which  appeared  not  only  in  English 
but  also  in  German  and  French.  Not  long  after  we 
note  the  writings  of  Richard  Waldo  Sibthorp,  who  in 
two  letters  answered  the  question,  "  Why  did  you  be- 
come a  Catholic?"  and  of  Francis  Wackerbath,  who 
before  his  conversion  had  written  a  similar  letter  to  Sir 
Robert  Peel.  Lisle  Phillips  wrote  about  The  Future 
Union  of  CJiristendom  (1857).  Henry  Digby  was,  among 
the  older  converts,  an  exceedingly  industrious  polemical 
writer.  Before  his  conversion  he  wrote  Tlie  Rock  of 
Honour.  Later  he  published  a  large  number  of  works, 
each  of  many  volumes,  which,  however,  never  became 
popular,  because  they  were  too  "  learned  "  for  the 
younger  fanatics.  We  mention  the  Mores  Catholici  of 
ten  volumes,  the  Covipitum,  or  Tiie  Meetitig  Ways  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  of  eight  volumes,  and  The  Chapel  of 
St.  John,  or  a  Life  of  Faith  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  not 
to  speak  of  several  collections  of  poetry  and  devotional 
writings. 

Much  has  been  made  of  converts  who  had  made  names 
for  themselves  in  other  spheres.  Especially  characteristic 
are  the  biographies  of  the  painters  Stanfield  and  Herbert 
and  of  the  architect  Pugin.  One  would  gather  from  such 
works  that  modern  England  possessed  hardly  any  other 
artists  of  note.  The  same  is  true  of  the  antiquarian 
Turnbull. 

But  the  most  significant  in  the  older  literature  of  apos- 
tasy are  the  detailed  biographies  of  George  Spencer,  sub- 
sequently the  "  Father  Ignatius  of  St.  Paul,"  and  a  most 


The  Oxford  Movement  271 

zealous  proselytiser,  and  the  fiery  Frederick  Lucas, 
founder  of  the  Tablet.  These  biographies  afford  the  best 
opportunities  for  the  study  of  the  psychology  of  conver- 
sion before  the  era  of  Tractarianism.  The  cause  of 
Spencer's  conversion  (which  happened  in  the  year  1830) 
was  the  confusion  of  faith  and  dogma.  His  argumenta- 
tion is  as  follows :  There  can  be  but  one  faith,  therefore 
the  English  Church,  divided  into  so  many  parties,  cannot 
be  the  true  Church;  such  can  only  be  the  Church  which 
preserves  the  unity  of  the  faith. 

The  conversion  of  Lucas  took  place  in  the  year  1839, 
when  the  Tractarian  movement  had  attracted  general  at- 
tention. Lucas  had  been  interested  from  the  beginning. 
But  he,  Quaker  by  birth,  never  shared  the  pious  attach- 
ment to  the  English  Church  which  was  so  strong  in 
Pusey  and  his  friends;  to  him,  therefore,  the  scruples 
which  for  a  long  time  held  Newman  back  were  as  un- 
reasonable as  the  more  pacific  disposition  of  born  Catho- 
lics, Nevertheless,  his  Reasons  for  Becoming  a  Catholic 
(1839),  ^"  attempt  to  make  Roman  doctrines  acceptable 
to  Protestants,  appears  in  a  certain  sense  as  a  model  of 
what  shortly  afterwards  Tract  Nifiety  attempted  to  do 
for  the  Thirty-nine  Articles. 

After  this  survey  of  the  older  forerunners,  we  enter 
upon  the  Tractarian  movement  itself.  It  is  necessary  to 
distinguish  its  several  stages.  Even  before  the  pubHca- 
tion  of  the  Tracts  for  the  Times,  which  gave  to  the  move- 
ment its  name,  the  Tractarian  tendency  had  given  signs 
of  its  existence.  Perceval's  Christian  Peace-Offering,  for 
instance,  had  manifested  the  sympathy  for  the  Roman 
Church  which  characterised  the  Tracts  from  the  begin- 
ning. This  writing,  published  at  the  time  of  Catholic 
emancipation,  intended  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  inter- 
communion of  Anglican  and  Roman  "  Catholics."  All 
errors  and  defects  of  the  papal  Church  were  represented 


272  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

as  mere  excrescences  on  a  true  branch  of  the  true  Church, 
which  did  not  touch  the  vital  parts.  And  while  the 
author  expressed  the  hope  of  complete  reunion  in  this 
direction,  hardly  any  abuse  was  strong  enough  for  Inde- 
pendents, Baptists,  Calvinists,  and  Lutherans. 

With  Perceval  we  reckon  Froude  as  one  of  the  earlier 
forerunners  of  the  young  Oxford  school.  It  was  he 
especially  who  reverted  to  the  ecclesiastical  ideals  of 
Laud ;  he  characterised  the  Reformation  as  a  badly  knit 
fracture,  and  saw  in  the  "  rationalistic  "  spirit  which  pro- 
ceeded from  the  Reformation  the  antichrist  of  the 
Apocalypse.  Keble's  programme,  in  the  Churchman  s 
Manual,  for  united  action  and  for  changes  in  the  Cate- 
chism, also  dates  from  before  the  Tracts  for  the  Times. 
We  find,  furthermore,  before  the  movement  proper,  large 
numbers  of  sermons  and  treatises  in  reviews  and  news- 
papers, and  an  extensive  literature  of  stories,  poems,  and 
romances ;  the  type,  as  it  were,  of  an  industry  which  was 
afterwards  carried  on  openly  in  the  interests  of  the 
Papacy. 

Far  more  influential  than  all  the  above-mentioned 
names,  even  at  that  time,  was  the  man  who  gave  to 
the  whole  movement  its  name,  Edward  Bouverie  Pusey. 
The  number  of  Puseyites  who  went  over  to  the  Roman 
Church  runs  high  into  the  thousands,  if  we  include  the 
laity.  Pusey  himself  remained  to  the  end  of  his  life  true 
to  the  declaration  which  he  made  at  the  most  difficult 
period,  that  he  would  live  and  die  in  the  bosom  of  the 
English  Church,  and  that  this  should  be  his  only  answer 
to  all  attacks  upon  him.  And  however  men's  judgments 
formerly  differed  as  to  his  work,  at  his  death  in  1882  he 
carried  with  him  into  the  grave  the  universal  respect  of 
his  fellow-men.  The  organs  of  all  Church  parties  in 
England  recognised  him  as  one  of  the  most  eminent  men 
of  the  whole  country.     His  American  biographer  goes  so 


The  Oxford  Movement  2  y2i 

far  as  to  call  him  the  greatest  theologian  the  English 
Church  has  ever  had.  And  it  is  certainly  highly  signifi- 
cant as  regards  the  position  and  influence  of  an  English 
theologian,  that  he  was  neither  archbishop,  nor  bishop, 
nor  even  dean,  but  simple  professor,  and  yet  he  guided 
the  entire  development  of  his  Church  into  new  channels. 
Pusey's  studies  in  Germany  had  exerted  no  less  in- 
fluence upon  him  than  the  same  studies  had  in  his  time 
upon  Cranmer.  Only  this  influence  was  in  the  opposite 
direction.  He  had  learned  to  know  German  biblical 
criticism,  but  at  the  same  time  to  hate  it  with  his  whole 
soul  as  undermining  the  authority  of  the  inspired  Scrip- 
tures. If  even  at  this  day  his  otherwise  clear-sighted 
admirer  Hopkins  condemns  German  critics  as  enemies  of 
the  holy  Scriptures,  we  may  form  an  idea  of  the  frame  of 
mind  in  which  the  youthful  contemporary  of  Hengsten- 
berg  returned  to  England.  But  we  cannot  deny  to  him 
an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  hated  criticism.  He  also 
occupied  himself  extensively  with  natural  science  and 
was  unusually  familiar  with  rabbinical  literature.  His 
preface  to  a  work  upon  the  Jewish  expositors  of  the  53d 
chapter  of  Isaiah  has  become  almost  proverbial  for  its 
rabbinical  learning.  The  list  of  learned  works  and 
treatises  by  his  pen  is  imposing;  large  literary  undertak- 
ings were  started  by  him,  such  as  a  comprehensive  com- 
mentary to  all  the  books  of  the  Bible  and  a  new  edition 
of  the  Church-fathers.  He  personally  contributed  to  the 
former  a  commentary  on  Daniel  and  the  Minor  Prophets, 
to  the  latter  the  Ante-Nicene  Christian  Library.  At  the 
same  time  we  find  him  in  the  forefront  of  all  ecclesiastical 
movements,  everywhere  contending  for  the  authority  of 
Church  doctrine,  but  even  more  for  the  practical  tasks  of 
the  Church  in  the  popular  life ;  and  the  Tractarian  move- 
ment brings  him  before  us  as  the  first  leader  of  a  party 
to  which  a  great  future  was  assured. 

These    much-talked-of   tracts   are   themselves   by   no 
18 


274  '^^^  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

means  the  work  of  one  man,  but  represent  the  outcome 
of  discussions  concerning  the  defects  of  the  Church  and 
the  means  of  remedying  them,  in  which  Pusey,  Newman, 
Palmer,  Keble,  and  Hook  participated.  We  find  in 
them  from  the  very  beginning  all  the  fundamental  ideas 
which  we  have  already  designated  as  the  heritage  of  the 
Laudian  tendencies  in  the  high  Church :  above  all,  the  im- 
portance assigned  to  the  apostolical  succession  as  the 
sole  means  by  which  the  Holy  Ghost  is  transmitted,  and 
to  ancient  ecclesiastical  tradition  as  the  source  of  doctrine 
alongside  of  the  Scriptures  and  as  the  standard  of  inter- 
pretation. From  these  premises  are  drawn  the  natural 
conclusions  as  regards  the  doctrines  of  justification  and 
of  the  Holy  Communion,  the  prerogatives  of  the  clergy, 
and  liturgical  rites.  The  Catholic  character  of  the  Eng- 
lish Church  was  emphatically  maintained  and  all  fellow- 
ship disclaimed  with  so-called  Protestantism. 

There  is,  however,  as  yet  no  purpose  discoverable  in 
any  of  the  tracts  of  a  separation  from  the  English  Church. 
It  was  rather  the  express  object  of  the  authors  to  main- 
tain the  Church's  doctrinal  basis  in  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles.  This  was  done  even  by  the  famous  Tract 
Ninety,  although  it  openly  proclaimed  the  break  with 
all  the  principles  of  the  Reformation.  For  it  aimed  par- 
ticularly to  show  that  it  was  possible  upon  the  basis  of 
these  very  articles  to  defend  the  specifically  Roman  doc- 
trines. Purgatory  and  absolution,  adoration  of  images 
and  transubstantiation,  the  worship  of  Mary  and  the  in- 
vocation of  the  saints,  celibacy  and  the  papal  authority : 
all  these  are,  according  to  the  author,  not  absolutely, 
but  only  in  corrupted  form,  contrary  to  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles.  It  is  possible  to  be  a  loyal  Anglican  and  yet  to 
accept  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent.  The  Roman 
Church  itself  is  the  older  sister  Church ;  Protestantism  is 
the  religion  of  the  corrupt  human  heart  and  the  Protest- 
ant Churches  are  anti-Christian  sects. 


The  Oxford  Movement  275 

The  author  of  Tract  Nijtety  will  now  claim  our  atten- 
tion more  than  any  other,  even  than  Pusey.  For  the 
latter  gave  place  in  the  course  of  the  following  years  to 
Newman.  And  the  several  periods  of  Newman's  life 
form,  as  it  were,  the  pivots  about  which  moves  English 
ecclesiastical  history  during  the  next  score  or  more  of 
years. 

Pusey's  American  biographer,  as  well  as  his  English 
friends,  ascribe  to  Newman  a  power  of  personal  attraction 
quite  indescribable ;  at  the  same  time  he  is  spoken  of  as  a 
man  who  felt  strongly  the  need  of  authority.  Newman's 
theology  has  in  fact  something  of  the  genus  varhmi  et 
miitabile  semper  which  Virgil  ascribes  to  women.  From 
the  evangelical  school  he  turned  to  the  high  Church, 
from  this  to  Rome.  But  after  he  had  refused  to  follow 
Manning's  agitation  for  the  infallibility  dogma  and  had 
characterised  the  Society  of  Jesus  as  an  insolent,  aggres- 
sive faction,  he  stood  in  the  last  years  of  Pius  IX.  as 
good  as  under  the  ban.  And,  in  spite  of  the  wise  policy 
of  Leo  XIII.,  who  sought  to  cover  up  these  differences, 
there  is  no  doubt,  as  Hopkins  rightly  remarks,  that  New- 
man was  much  more  honoured  and  loved  in  the  English 
Church  than  in  the  Roman ;  while  the  romanising  ten- 
dency of  his  influence  ceased  with  his  secession,  the 
personal  devotion  remained.  But  before  we  consider 
Newman's  personal  influence  upon  others,  we  shall  have 
to  examine  the  effects  of  Tract  Ninety  and  of  Tractarian- 
ism  in  general. 

Hardly  one  of  the  tracts  gives  any  evidence  of  a  scien- 
tifically honest  investigation  in  the  German  meaning  of 
the  word  (that  is,  where  the  result  was  not  certain  before 
the  investigation).  It  is  true  that  there  was  no  lack, 
among  the  authors,  of  patristic  learning  and  of  dialectical 
skill.  And  their  courage  grew  not  only  with  their  suc- 
cesses but  also  with  opposition.  Among  their  successes 
we  count  the  favour  they  found  with  the  majority  of  the 


2  76  The  Papacy  171  the  igth  Ce^itury 

bishops,  who  saw  the  considerably  weakened  authority 
of  their  office  strengthened  by  the  Oxford  men.  Fore- 
most in  opposition  was  the  Christian  Observer  (represent- 
ing the  evangelical  party),  which  as  early  as  the  year  1834 
pointed  out  the  dangers  of  the  new  tendency  for  the 
Church.  At  that  time  Newman  had  propounded  his  Via 
Media,  in  which  he  vindicated  for  the  English  Church  the 
middle  position  which  in  fact  represents  her  peculiar 
character. 

The  struggle  grew  from  year  to  year  more  intense,  and 
more  and  more  unmistakably  the  new  school  claimed  not 
only  toleration  but  sole  right  in  the  Church.  This  was 
shown  in  1836  in  the  Hampden  dispute,  when  the  Oxford 
men  attacked  Hampden's  nomination  as  professor. 
Thomas  Arnold  at  the  time  vigorously  defended  his 
friend  against  the  charge  of  infidelity.  The  following 
year,  1837,  witnessed  a  new  conflict,  occasioned  by  Wil- 
liams'  tract  on  official  reserve  in  the  communication  of 
religious  truths.  The  publication  of  Froude's  Remains 
in  the  years  1838-39  increased  the  intensity  of  the  an- 
tagonism by  revealing  the  real  nature  of  the  ends  Froude 
had  been  pursuing.  "  It  was  now  made  perfectly  plain 
that  the  younger  generation  had  been  taught  to  see  in 
the  Reformation  a  deplorable  calamity,  to  treat  the  other 
Evangelical  Churches  with  contempt,  and  the  Roman 
Church  as  the  older  sister  of  the  English,  or  in  fact  as 
her  mother." 

But  it  was  Tract  Ninety  which  finally  knocked  the 
bottom  out  of  the  barrel.  Its  sophistical  character  was 
only  too  evident.  Newman  did  not  so  much  investigate 
the  doctrinal  intentions  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles;  his 
endeavour  was  rather  to  ascertain  how  far  they  could  be 
twisted  and  interpreted,  in  order  to  reconcile  the  doc- 
trines rejected  by  the  authors  with  the  letter  of  the 
articles.  It  was  a  real  Jesuitical  reservatio  mentalis,  by 
means  of  which  the  young  generation  was  taught  to  give 


The  Oxford  Movement  277 

a  different  meaning  to  the  obligation  of  ecclesiastical 
formularies.  Wiseman,  from  the  Roman  side,  could 
point  out  with  little  trouble  that  such  a  position  must 
necessarily  lead  farther. 

The  subsequent  events  in  which  were  manifested  the 
consequences  of  the  premises  enunciated  in  the  Tracts 
for  the  Times  are  to  be  sharply  distinguished  from  the 
attitude  of  the  authors  at  the  time.  They  were  as  yet 
very  far  from  thinking  of  leaving  the  English  Church ; 
on  the  contrary,  they  hoped  so  to  increase  their  influence 
as  to  bring  about  ultimately  the  reunion  of  the  separated 
Churches,  that  is,  to  bring  over  their  whole  Church  to  the 
Papacy.  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  leave  their  later 
writings  out  of  consideration,  in  order  at  this  point  to  fix 
our  attention  upon  the  situation  as  it  had  been  created 
by  Tract  Ninety.  The  challenge  which  it  contained  was 
of  course  too  peremptory  for  the  bishops  who  had  hitherto 
favoured  the  movement  to  look  on  in  silence.  In  March, 
1 84 1,  the  vice-chancellor  of  Oxford  broke  with  the  Trac- 
tarian  party.  Bishop  Bagot  of  Oxford,  personally  much 
inclined  towards  the  party,  notified  Newman  that  Tract 
Ninety  was  offensive  and  calculated  to  disturb  the  peace 
and  the  quiet  of  the  Church.  The  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury forbade  the  publication  of  further  polemical  tracts. 
Newman  submitted  by  his  letter  of  March  29,  1841,  to  the 
bishop's  order,  and  stopped  the  publication  of  the  tracts. 

Pusey,  who  until  now  had  covered  the  whole  party 
with  his  name,  attempted  to  defend  Newman's  position. 
He  himself  was  suspended  for  three  years  from  the  uni- 
versity pulpit,  on  account  of  a  sermon  which  had  been 
too  controversial.  But  he  did  not  follow  Newman  in  the 
latter's  subsequent  career;  he  contented  himself  with 
"  deprotestantising "  the  English  Church.  Pius  IX. 
afterwards  said  of  him,  he  had  rung  the  bell  for  the 
entrance  of  England  into  the  Catholic  (2,  e.,  Roman) 
Church,  but  himself  stopped  at  the  door. 


2/8  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

This  period  of  transition,  before  the  conversions  in 
large  numbers  had  begun  and  Newman  himself  took  the 
last  step,  illustrates  the  attitude  which  his  party  originally- 
endeavoured  to  assume  and  to  occupy.  A  few  months 
after  he  had  outwardly  submitted  to  his  bishop  Newman 
took  it  upon  himself  to  suggest  to  the  Protestants  of  the 
Continent  to  submit  themselves  to  the  Roman  bishops  of 
their  dioceses.  The  claim,  put  forward  at  a  later  time 
by  Bishop  Martin  of  Paderborn,  that  his  jurisdiction  ex- 
tended to  the  Protestants  living  in  his  diocese  (to  "  all 
baptised  persons"),  was  sanctioned  in  principle  by  New- 
man in  the  declaration  which  he  made  to  the  Evangelical 
pastor  Sporlein  of  Antwerp :  to  the  effect  that  he,  as  a 
cleric  of  Antwerp,  was  subject  to  the  spiritual  power  of 
the  bishop  of  that  city.  The  circle  of  young  men  sur- 
rounding Newman  expressed  their  agreement  with  this 
view. 

Even  after  the  crisis  occasioned  by  Tract  Ninety, 
Newman  remained  for  more  than  four  years  on  the  divid- 
ing line  between  the  two  Churches.  One  after  another 
of  his  disciples  and  friends  preceded  him  into  the  Church 
of  Rome.  Among  them  are  many  of  slight  importance, 
but  also  no  small  number  of  those  who  before  their  con- 
version occupied  prominent  positions  and  who  by  their 
ascetic  piety  as  well  as  by  their  learning  and  their  power 
of  logic  exercised  an  influence  upon  large  circles.  The 
numerous  writings  by  these  men,  partly  before,  partly 
after  their  conversion,  represent  at  this  day  an  important 
chapter  of  modern  English  ecclesiastical  literature. 

They  are  not  always  agreeable  reading;  nevertheless 
in  the  period  now  beginning  we  have  before  us  one  of  the 
most  powerful  spiritual  movements  of  our  century,  one 
which  for  those  who  were  caught  in  its  influence  was  all 
but  irresistible.  In  his  pamphlet  on  the  Vatican  decrees, 
Mr.  Gladstone  has  expressed  himself  as  follows:  "  The 
ecclesiastical  historian  of  the  future  will  perhaps  conclude 


Xhe  Oxford  Movement  279 

that  Newman's  withdrawal  was  a  more  important  event 
than  the  partial  alienation  of  John  Wesley,  whose  loss  to 
the  English  Church  is  the  only  one  which  in  magnitude 
can  be  compared  with  the  loss  of  Newman."  He  em- 
phatically designates  him  as  the  leader,  at  the  time,  of 
religious  life  in  England ;  no  one  but  Newman  himself 
was  able  to  deprive  him  of  this  ofifice  and  this  power. 
Newman  was,  according  to  Gladstone, 

in  the  extraordinary,  perhaps  unparalleled,  position  in  a  critical 
period  to  give  to  the  religious  thought  of  his  time  and  his 
country  the  most  powerful  impulse  it  had  long  received  from 
any  man;  then  to  be  the  principal,  though  without  doubt  in- 
voluntary, cause  of  an  equally  remarkable  dissension  and  dis- 
sipation of  the  representatives  of  this  mode  of  thought  into  a 
number  of  divided  and  mutually  antagonistic  groups. 

The  testimony  which  Gladstone  bears  to  the  existence 
of  dissensions  will  be  confirmed  by  those  who,  in  the 
literature  of  the  years  1841  to  1845,  trace  the  remon- 
strances and  the  warnings  on  the  one  side  and  on  the 
other  follow  the  writings  published  in  increasing  numbers 
by  converts.  It  is  manifestly  a  period  of  separation  of 
heterogeneous  elements,  which  came  about  in  the  natural 
order  of  things  and  then  just  as  naturally  assumed  ever 
larger  dimensions.  Many  of  those  who  were  formerly  in 
favour  of  the  Tractarians  began  to  hesitate :  among  them 
the  same  Perceval  who  had  been  one  of  the  first  pro- 
moters of  the  movement,  and  an  increasing  number  of 
bishops.  Measures  are  now  taken  to  dam  the  stream, 
more,  to  be  sure,  in  the  spirit  of  the  seventeenth  than  of 
the  nineteenth  century :  such  as  greater  stringency  in  the 
requirement  of  subscription  to  the  Thirty-nine  Articles 
at  matriculation  in  the  universities.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  advance  guard  of  the  army,  which  is  looking  towards 
Rome,  more  and  more  engages  our  attention. 

As  yet  it  is  mostly  younger  men,  with  unknown  names. 


28o  The  Papacy  in  the  igtJi  Cefitury 

most  of  them  personal  pupils  of  Newman,  who  shared  his 
hermitage  at  Littlemore  and  then  left  it  in  order  openly 
to  transfer  their  allegiance  to  the  Church  of  Rome. 
Somewhat  better  known  are  William  Lockhart,  who  went 
over  in  August,  1843,  ^"^  Charles  Seager,  who  in  October 
of  the  same  year  took  the  same  step  in  Rome.  Charles 
Scott  Murray,  who  followed  them,  was  the  eighteenth 
immediate  pupil  of  Newman  who  since  1841  had  taken 
this  step. 

A  much  greater  sensation  was  made  by  the  course 
which  William  George  Ward  pursued.  He  had  been  the 
editor  of  the  British  Critic,  in  which  Newman,  after  the 
cessation  of  the  Tracts,  had  defended  his  position.  Ward 
published,  in  1844,  his  Ideal  of  a  Christian  Church,  in 
which  he  went  far  beyond  the  principles  of  Tract  Ninety. 
This  writing  is  characterised,  on  the  papal  side,  as  the 
boldest  which  the  Puseyites  had  till  then  published. 
Ward  in  fact  endeavoured  to  represent  the  promulgation 
of  the  most  pronounced  Roman  maxims  as  entirely  com- 
patible with  his  official  position  in  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. The  universal  opposition  which  this  called  forth, 
and  the  legal  action  instituted  against  him,  which  ended 
with  his  deposition,  obliged  him  to  relinquish  his  office. 
After  his  conversion  Ward  undertook  the  publication  of 
the  Dublin  Review.  He  also  published  a  number  of 
writings  upon  special  topics,  of  which  we  mention  one 
which  was  written  in  the  true  Jesuitical  spirit  of  quib- 
bling, concerning  The  Authority  of  Doctrinal  Decisions 
which  Are  not  Defijiitiojis  of  Faith  (1867). 

But  even  Ward's  far-reaching  audacity  was  soon  sur- 
passed by  that  of  Frederick  Oakeley.  He  too  had  begun 
his  literary  activity  by  a  defence  of  Tract  Ninety,  in 
which,  like  Ward,  he  went  beyond  it  and  recommended 
auricular  confession,  celibacy,  and  a  form  of  worship 
which  served  as  a  model  for  subsequent  ritualism.  Now 
he  entered  the  lists  in  defence  of  Ward  and  claimed  even 


The  Oxford  Movement  281 

more  decidedly  than  the  latter  the  right  of  retaining 
spiritual  office  in  the  Church,  in  order  that  he  and  others 
might  fulfil  their  mission  for  the  conversion  of  their 
parishes.  He  tried  the  patience  of  his  colleagues  in  the 
Church  until  it  became  necessary  to  take  legal  steps 
against  him,  which  ended  in  his  deposition. 

There  is  thus  evident,  even  while  they  are  both  on  the 
way  to  Rome,  a  certain  divergence  in  the  two  lines  of 
procedure,  that  of  Ward  and  Oakeley  on  the  one  hand, 
of  Newman  on  the  other.  Oakeley's  polemical  zeal  after- 
wards carried  him  farther  and  farther  and  greatly  intensi- 
fied the  confusion  existing  in  the  company  of  the  converts. 
He  finally  had  the  audacity  to  glorify  as  "  the  Church  of 
the  Bible  "  (1865)  the  same  papal  Church  which  in  every 
way  had  sought  to  counteract  the  dissemination  of  the 
Bible  and,  where  it  could  not  altogether  prevent  it,  had 
sanctioned  the  grossest  falsifications. 

And  yet  even  Oakeley's  infatuation  was  surpassed  by 
that  of  his  friend,  Frederick  William  Faber.  Besides 
Faber's  own  writings,  the  Sights  and  Thoughts  in  Foreign 
ChurcJies,  written  before  his  conversion,  the  customary 
letter  to  a  friend  concerning  the  motives  of  his  secession, 
and  a  large  number  of  ascetic  and  proselytising  works 
dating  from  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  we  are  in  possession 
of  a  laudatory  biography  of  him  by  Father  Bowden.  If 
anyone  desires  a  superabundance  of  malicious  expres- 
sions of  defamation  poured  out  upon  everything  con- 
nected with  the  Reformation  and  with  Protestantism,  he 
could  hardly  find  a  better  source  to  draw  from.  Even 
the  heroes  of  English  literature,  a  Milton,  a  Shelley,  a 
Byron,  are  treated  by  Faber  in  the  most  contemptuous 
tone.  His  associate  and  peer  in  this  berserker  madness 
was  his  bosom  friend,  William  Anthony  Hutchinson. 
The  latter  had  the  hardihood  to  write  a  special  pamphlet 
(soon  translated  into  German),  in  which  he  represented 
the  Loretto  fable  as  true  history,  and  we  are  not  sur- 


282  The  Papacy  hi  the  igth  Century 

prised  that  this  orthodox  papal  "  historian  "  treats  a 
scholar  of  Dean  Stanley's  eminence  as  if  he  were  an 
ignorant  schoolboy. 

We  have  selected  these  names  from  among  a  large  num- 
ber of  theological  converts,  because  they  exercised  a  de- 
cisive influence  upon  the  man  who  had  hitherto  been  the 
head  of  the  school.  It  is  evident  that  the  "  leader,  at 
the  time,  of  the  religious  spirit  in  England,"  in  the  more 
than  four  and  a  half  years  from  the  suppression  of  the 
Tracts  for  the  Times  to  his  secession,  never  gave  up  the 
hope  of  being  able  to  avoid  the  last  step,  and  that  he 
sought  to  avoid  it  because  he  thought  it  possible  to  carry 
his  whole  Church  over  with  him  to  Rome.  With  this 
purpose  in  view  he  attempted  several  large  literary  works, 
such  as  the  Lives  of  Efigtish  Sai^its,  which  dates  from  the 
period  of  his  hesitation.  Most  of  these  works  came  to  a 
standstill,  and  even  his  Essay  on  the  Development  of 
Christian  Doctrine  remained  a  fragment.  The  book 
Sfives  clear  evidence  of  how  the  author  was  drawn  hither 
and  thither  and  could  not  rise  above  an  attitude  of  vacil- 
lation. More  and  more  did  the  man,  who  so  long  had 
influenced  others,  become  the  object  of  others'  influence. 
Even  such  young  men  as  Dalgairns,  who  had  reported  to 
the  Paris  Univers  the  situation  as  it  was  created  by  Tract 
Ninety,  are  seen  to  exert  an  increasing  influence  upon 
his  decisions. 

It  was  Dalgairns  who  brought  Father  Dominicus,  the 
priest  who  occupied  himself  with  receiving  "  recanta- 
tions," to  Newman.  The  journey  of  the  father  on  a 
rainy  day  has  been  neatly  dressed  up  in  true  novel  style. 
Dalgairns  had  gone  over  on  the  29th  of  September,  1845, 
Ambrosius  St.  John  followed  him  on  the  2d  of  October. 
On  the  8th  of  October,  late  in  the  evening,  Father  Do- 
minicus came  to  Newman,  took  his  confession,  and  re- 
ceived him  into  the  true  Church.  During  the  next  days 
there  followed  a  large  number  of  friends,  who  had  only 


The  Oxford  Movemc7it  283 

waited  for  Newman  to  set  the  example :  Bowles  and 
Stanton  on  the  9th  of  October,  Woodmason  on  the  loth, 
and  soon  afterwards  Coffin,  Newman's  companion  on  his 
journey  to  Rome. 

Newman's  literary  activity  is  too  comprehensive  to  be 
exhaustively  treated  in  this  connection.  Immediately 
after  his  secession  he  published  the  open  "  retraction  " 
of  his  errors  (antedated  the  6th  of  October).  He  ex- 
pressed himself  somewhat  more  fully  in  Loss  and  Gain, 
or  the  Story  of  a  Convert  (1848).  But  his  activity  con- 
sisted from  this  time  mainly  in  the  introduction  into 
England  of  the  congregation  of  the  Oratorians,  of  which 
he  himself  had  become  a  member.  From  1852  to  1858 
he  presided  as  rector  over  the  university  of  Dublin. 
Quite  naturally,  a  large  number  of  the  younger  converts 
made  their  confession  by  preference  to  him. 

With  Newman's  apostasy  begins  the  first  period  of  a 
regular  pilgrimage  to  Rome.  The  mere  names  of  the 
theologians  who  went  over  in  the  years  following  fill  a 
number  of  pages.  We  select  only  those  who  have  re- 
corded the  reasons  for  their  apostasy  in  any  noticeable 
writings.  Among  these  are  Thomas  William  Marshall, 
Edward  Browne,  Albany  Christie,  William  Wingfield, 
Leicester  Buckingham.  The  first  belongs  to  the  older 
group  who  with  Newman  sought  to  avoid  isolated  action. 
Witness  his  Notes  on  the  Catholic  Episcopate.  But  after  he 
had  recognised  the  inevitableness  of  recantation,  he  drew 
up  a  list  of  twenty-two  motives  by  which  he  endeavoured 
to  persuade  others  to  follow  him.  Later  he  wrote  a 
larger  work  on  missions,  in  the  style  of  Wiseman's  Mill- 
ions and  Martyrs  (the  former  represented  as  the  means  of 
Protestant,  the  latter  as  the  power  of  Roman  Catholic  mis- 
sions). Browne's  conversion  pamphlet  bears  the  form  of  a 
letter  to  the  editor  of  the  Church  and  State  Gazette.  Chris- 
tie wrote  for  the  glorification  of  the  Papacy  (identified 


284  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centtiry 

with  Catholicism)  as  the  only  real  counterweight  to  polit- 
ical tyranny.  Wingfield  began  as  Anglican  with  a  defence 
of  prayers  for  the  dead  ;  at  a  later  time  he  wrote  books  of 
travel  in  the  interests  of  the  Papacy.  Buckingham  finally 
added  another  to  the  many  Jesuitical  fabrications  whose 
aim  was  to  prove  the  innocence  of  Mary  Stuart. 

More  interesting,  however,  than  any  of  these  is  a  pair 
of  friends  whose  mutual  relations  remind  us  of  those  of 
Faber  and  Hutchinson.  They  are  James  Spenrer  North- 
cote  and  Healy  Thompson.  Northcote  wrote  his  first 
work  upon  the  fourfold  dilemma  of  Anglicanism  (1846); 
later  he  wrote  on  the  Roman  catacombs  and  the  Virgin 
Mary  (proving  the  papal  dogmas  concerning  Mary  out  of 
the  gospels).  Both  together  founded  the  Clifton  Tracts, 
in  which,  by  the  boldness  of  their  method  of  reconstruct- 
ing history,  the  authors  have  out-distanced  even  the 
"  historians  "  of  the  German  tract  associations,  who  cer- 
tainly are  not  to  be  accused  of  too  great  modesty  in  this 
respect.  The  first  seventeen  issues  of  the  Tracts,  or  the 
first  division,  treated  the  Reformation  in  the  light  of  the 
papal  bull  against  Luther.  The  second  division  has 
"  made  the  refutation  of  historical  falsehoods,  such  as 
are  current  in  England,  its  object";  the  third  consists 
of  dogmatic,  the  fourth  of  devotional  or  entertaining 
treatises. 

Among  the  theological  controversialists  of  the  year 
1846  we  name  a  few  who  are  particularly  eminent :  Henry 
Formby,  author  of  a  popular  illustrated  Church  history 
and  of  a  pamphlet  against  rationalism  in  education  ;  David 
Lewis,  author  of  an  exceedingly  violent  work  on  the  nature 
and  the  extent  of  the  royal  supremacy ;  the  two  Morrises, 
one  Pusey's  assistant  in  the  Hebrew  professorship,  the 
other  afterwards  the  secretary  and  biographer  of  Wise- 
man ;  Richard  Simpson,  author  of  a  number  of  works  on 
the  persecution  of  Catholics  in  England  and  of  a  life  of 
the  Jesuit  Campion.     With  these  theologians  go  a  few 


The  Oxfoi^d  Movement  285 

forerunners  of  the  subsequent  droves  of  converts  from  the 
aristocracy :  the  Scottish  Lord  Monteith,  who  with  his 
large  fortune  rendered  material  services  to  the  Propa- 
ganda; and  Lady  Georgiana  Fullerton,  who  followed  in 
the  steps  of  the  authoress  of  Geraldine,  and  wrote  numer- 
ous proselytising  novels,  which  have  been  all  translated 
into  German. 

Among  the  converts  of  the  year  1847  Jo^ii^  Gordon 
leads  the  way.  His  work,  Some  Account  of  the  Reasons  of 
my  Conversion  to  the  Catholic  Chtirch,  passed  through  seven 
editions  in  ten  years.  From  out  of  the  circle  of  the 
Oxford  school  there  followed  him  in  the  same  year  his 
brother  William  Thomas  Gordon,  Richard  Gell  Mac- 
mullen,  Thomas  Wilkinson,  Edward  Caswall  (known 
among  Romanists  as  a  poet),  Robert  Ornsby  (author  of 
a  life  of  Francis  de  Sales  and  companion  of  the  young 
duke  of  Norfolk),  and  a  number  more.  Early  in  the 
year  1848  these  were  joined  by  Robert  Knox  Sconce, 
whose  work,  A  Feiv  Plain  Reasons  for  Submitting  to  the 
Catholic  CJmrch,  was  widely  circulated. 

Most  of  these  Anglican  theologians  became  after  their 
conversion  Roman  priests  or  monks  and  as  such  devoted 
themselves  with  energy  to  the  making  of  new  converts. 
The  movement  which  proceeded  from  the  clergy  ex- 
tended more  and  more  into  other  strata  of  society,  as  we 
see  from  the  lists  of  the  same  year,  which  contain  the 
names  of  General  Tyler,  Lord  Macaft'rey,  the  lawyer 
Wetherfield,  the  painter  John  Pollen,  and  the  publisher 
James  Burns. 

The  stream  of  converts  steadily  increased,  even  before 
the  Gorham  case,  when  the  attitude  assumed  by  Manning 
in  consequence  of  the  decision  gave  it  a  new  impulse  and 
a  new  character.  Even  during  the  storms  of  the  year  of 
revolution,  1848,  the  movement  did  not  stand  still. 
Among  the  converts  of  this  time  is  James  Burton  Robert- 
son, a  poet  of  some  talent,  whom  the  papal  press  places 


286  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centtiry 

on  a  level  with  Milton  and  above  Young.  We  find  also 
the  name  of  the  baronet  William  Drummond  Stewart, 
whose  wealth  enabled  him  "  to  form  the  nucleus  of  a 
Catholic  congregation  in  a  region  wholly  Protestant"; 
also  that  of  Colonel  Jerrett,  the  rich  landed  proprietor 
and  justice  of  the  peace,  and  Thomas  Yonge,  "  nephew 
of  Lord  Senton  and  member  of  one  of  the  most  prominent 
families  in  Hampshire,"  and  various  judges  and  lawyers. 

The  great  majority  of  writings  by  converts  dating  from 
that  time  breathes  the  fanaticism  of  infallibility.  In 
justice  to  the  authors  we  are  bound  to  acknowledge  that 
they  were  men  of  conviction,  who  unflinchingly  followed 
duty  wherever  it  led  them.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
in  them  the  English  Church  lost  a  number  of  highly 
gifted  and  influential  members. 

And  yet — if  we  candidly  compare  the  time  before  and 
after  1845,  we  can  hardly  resist  the  conclusion  that  the 
crisis  brought  about  by  Newman's  secession  acted  like  a 
storm  which  clears  the  atmosphere.  However  great  was 
outwardly  the  loss  to  the  English  Church,  the  gain  to  its 
inner  life  was  much  greater.  These  men  in  fact  no  longer 
belonged  to  a  Church  which  after  all  was  rooted  in  the 
Reformation.  The  English  Church  occupied  an  untenable 
position  so  long  as  the  Tractarians  held  their  places  in  her. 
Hence  the  sultry,  oppressive  atmosphere  caused  by  the 
feeling  of  an  imminent,  inevitable  catastrophe.  When 
the  dreaded  event  had  happened,  when  the  inevitable 
separation  had  taken  place,  the  Church  seemed  again  to 
breathe  freely,  like  the  newly  sown  field  after  the  thunder 
and  lightning  of  the  storm.  All  respect  for  Newman's 
learning  and  —  we  accept  Gladstone's  testimony  for  it  — 
his  subjective  honesty.  Objectively  there  is  scarcely 
conceivable  a  greater  piece  of  dishonesty  than  Tract 
Ninety,  No  candid  man  can  blame  Newman  because 
his  conviction  led  him  into  the  papal  Church.  But  we 
may  justly  blame  him  for  delaying  so  long. 


The  Oxford  Movement  287 

To  be  sure,  if  we  consider  Newman's  later  life,  we  shall 
understand  why  the  step  was  so  difficult  to  take.  Again 
we  say,  all  respect  for  the  weight  of  his  personality,  and 
that  not  only  in  view  of  his  earlier,  but  even  more  in  view 
of  his  later  activity.  But  was  the  latter  not  a  labour  of 
Sisyphus  ?  We  read  the  answer  in  his  own  writings. 
There  is  hardly  anything  more  pathetic  than  his  auto- 
biography (published  after  long  delay  in  the  year  1864) 
and  the  controversy  with  Pusey  to  which  it  gave  rise. 
How  touching  are  the  repeatedly  expressed  regrets  for 
the  happy  years  from  1833  to  1841 ;  and  how  significant, 
when  we  compare  the  broken  life  of  the  following  years! 
And  why  broken  ?  It  was  not  the  attacks  of  his  former 
associates  in  the  faith  that  clouded  his  after-life,  but 
those  of  his  eager  disciples  to  whom  the  master  was  not 
sufficiently  zealous.  He  was  obliged  to  relinquish  his 
position  in  Dublin  after  many  painful  experiences.  And 
when  at  last  he  was  about  to  realise  his  dearest  wish, 
the  establishment  of  an  oratory  at  Oxford,  he  was  most 
humiliatingly  disavowed  by  Pius  IX.  (1867). 

The  manner  in  which  the  orthodox  papal  press  at  that 
time  spoke  of  him  is  paralleled  only  by  the  treatment  ac- 
corded to  DoUinger  after  his  celebrated  lectures  in  which 
he  advocated  the  abandonment  by  the  pope  of  the  tem- 
poral power.  He  was  accused,  with  Dollinger,  of  an 
attempt  to  "  germanise  "  the  Church,  which  must  be 
protected  from  this  fate  by  the  Papacy.  Newman  did 
not  conceal  his  opposition  to  the  dogma  of  the  infalli- 
bility. But  when  the  crisis  came,  he  lacked  Bollinger's 
strength  of  conviction.  Such  unreserved  opposition  as 
that  which  was  shown  by  born  Catholics  would  have 
meant  for  the  convert  a  disavowal  of  his  whole  former 
life.  It  is  the  fate  of  numerous  converts  that  they  are 
not  able  publicly  to  retract  their  recantation  without 
stultifying  themselves.  Newman  is  a  prominent  illustra- 
tion of  this.     After  maintaining  for  some  time  his  refusal, 


288  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

he  had  to  resign  himself  to  accepting  the  cardinal's  title 
from  the  peace-pope  Leo  XIII.,  and  suffer  himself  to  be 
represented  as  bought  over. 

Although  a  large  number  had  followed  Newman  in  his 
apostasy,  still  the  years  we  have  been  considering  do  not 
by  any  means  bring  us  to  the  real  climax  of  the  era  of 
apostasy.  This  was  brought  about  by  the  Gorham  case 
(1849),  th^^  "^w  crisis  in  the  Anglican  Church,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  the  antagonistic  elements  diverged  more 
than  ever,  following  a  sort  of  centrifugal  movement.  In 
all  previous  party  divisions  within  the  Anglican  fold,  the 
question  had  practically  been  between  the  two  parties  of 
the  high  and  the  low  Church.  But  the  appearance  of 
Puseyism  within  the  first  party,  together  with  the  oppo- 
sition of  evangelicalism,  with  its  more  practical  tendency, 
had  called  forth  a  more  strictly  scientific  movement.  We 
trace  its  beginnings  in  the  opposition  of  the  older  Oxford 
men,  the  school  of  Thomas  Arnold,  Whately,  and  Hamp- 
den, to  their  younger  successors. 

As  the  "  romanising  "  tendencies  of  the  Puseyites 
became  more  evident,  the  "  germanising  "  movement 
asserted  itself  more  decidedly  in  opposition.  The  united 
action  with  Germany  in  the  establishment  of  the  Jerusa- 
lem bishopric  called  forth  from  Newman  a  decided  pro- 
test; on  the  other  hand  it  drew  closer,  among  a  large 
number,  the  connection  with  Germany.  The  growing 
strength  of  the  so-called  broad-Church  school,  which 
maintained  intimate  relations  with  German  theology, 
forms  one  of  the  most  interesting  phases  of  Protestant 
Church  history  in  England;  but  in  the  chapter  of  that 
history  which  brings  before  us  the  progress  of  Anglo- 
Catholicism  we  meet  only  with  an  intensified  antagonism 
on  the  part  of  those  who  would  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  German  Reformation,  with  German  theology,  and 
with  what  they  were  pleased  to  call  German  unbelief. 


The  Oxford  Movement  289 

The  Gorham  case  first  brought  these  new  antagonisms 
into  prominence.  Gorham  really  opposed  the  magic  con- 
ception of  baptism  as  identical  with  conversion.  But  as 
the  Thirty-nine  Articles  maintained  this  conception  even 
more  decidedly  than  the  Lutheran  symbols,  he  departed 
from  the  confession  of  faith  as  much  as  Tract  Ninety  had 
done  in  the  opposite  direction.  It  is  the  peculiarity  of 
the  crisis  that  attaches  to  his  name  that  the  party  which 
hitherto  had  been  the  occasion  of  the  increasingly  numer- 
ous conversions  to  Rome  now  set  itself  up  as  the  guardian 
of  the  faith  and  would  tolerate  no  other  interpretation 
than  its  own.  Gorham's  Tractarian  bishop  refused  to  con- 
firm him  in  the  living  to  which  he  had  been  presented, 
and  the  bishop's  proceedings  were  approved  by  the  higher 
ecclesiastical  court ;  but  the  royal  privy  council  acquitted 
Gorham  of  the  charge  and  instituted  him  in  his  parish. 
This  action,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Puseyites,  showed  more 
than  ever  the  supremacy  of  the  crown  in  the  light  of  a 
tyranny  and  the  Church  as  hopelessly  subjected  to  the 
state.  Hence  a  growing  excitement  and  more  and  more 
angry  protests,  in  which  Pusey  himself  took  part.  But 
again  he  separated  himself  finally  from  his  associates. 

It  was  the  subscribers  to  the  so-called  Gorham  protests 
whose  submission  to  Rome  marks  the  real  climax  of  the 
whole  stream  of  conversions.  And  both  Newman  and 
his  friends  and  the  old-Catholics  of  England  were  more 
and  more  pushed  to  the  rear  and  deprived  of  their  in- 
fluence by  those  who  from  this  time  on  went  over  to  the 
Church  of  Rome. 

Again,  we  find  a  number  of  dii  minorum  gentium  lead- 
ing the  way.  Almost  all  of  them  entered  the  service  of 
the  Roman  Church  and  henceforth  devoted  their  lives 
principally  to  the  conversion  of  others.  The  fact  that 
at  the  one  Church  of  the  Redeemer  at  Leeds  almost 
simultaneously  five  of  the  clergy  took  the  same  step 
proves  to  what  extent  the  action  of  one  man  determined 


290  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Coitury 

that  of  another.  Soon  the  forerunners  of  minor  import- 
ance were  followed  by  the  real  leaders,  such  men  as 
Wilberforce,  Manning,  and  Palmer.  And  to  these  men, 
who  since  then  have  been  the  heads  of  the  new  Roman 
hierarchy,  were  now  added  regular  processions  of  the 
aristocracy  to  the  rock  of  St.  Peter. 

With  the  theological  leaders  of  the  new  movement  as 
well  as  with  the  Tractarians,  we  must  unreservedly 
recognise  the  ecclesiastical  ideals  which  determined  their 
action.  We  find  these  expressed  in  the  words  of  the 
men  themselves.  For  we  meet  now,  even  more  than 
before,  with  a  voluminous  controversial  literature.  Prom- 
inent among  the  writings  in  which  the  new  converts 
justified  their  action  is  the  "farewell  letter"  to  his 
former  parishioners  of  Henry  William  Wilberforce.  A 
few  years  later  he  was  followed  by  his  brother,  Robert 
Isaac  Wilberforce,  who  at  his  conversion  published  a 
pamphlet  against  the  royal  supremacy.  The  third 
brother,  Bishop  Samuel  Wilberforce,  became,  with  Pusey 
and  Keble,  the  leader  of  the  subsequent  reaction. 

If  we  compare  the  literature  as  a  whole  which  belongs 
to  the  new  era  with  that  which  dates  from  the  earlier 
days  of  Newman's  secession,  we  observe  a  considerable 
disparity.  In  place  of  the  earnest,  conscientious  struggles 
which  characterised  the  former  period,  we  now  find  a 
tendency  to  rhetorical  pathos;  in  place  of  the  ancient 
Church-ideals  we  find  a  growing  emphasis  placed  upon 
the  Church  as  a  world-power.  Vulgar  materialisation  of 
religious  ideas  is  mingled  with  a  still  more  vulgar  ambi- 
tion. The  reason  of  this  change  is  not  far  to  seek.  The 
older  forerunners  made  sacrifices  for  their  convictions; 
the  younger  generation  followed  the  favourite  fashion. 
Newman  and  Manning  have  been  much  compared ;  but, 
aside  from  the  fact  that  both  entered  the  Church  of 
Rome,  the  parallel  is  justified  only  in  so  far  as  both  be- 
came cardinals.     But  even  touching'  this  external  fact  the 


The  Oxford  Movement  291 

difference  is  striking :  Manning  won  the  coveted  title  by 
his  agitation  for  the  new  papal  dogma,  while  Newman 
was  reluctantly  prevailed  upon  to  accept  it.  As  the 
religious-ethical  attitude  of  the  two  men  was  one  of  con- 
trast, so  was  their  outward  position :  the  successor  of 
Wiseman  in  formal  capability  and  hierarchical  dexterity 
far  excelled  Newman,  whose  coveted  ideal  was  the  her- 
mit's life.  Manning  therefore  exerted  upon  the  latest 
development  of  the  papal  Church,  under  an  infallible 
pope,  an  influence  which  extended  far  beyond  England^ 

Manning's  course,  before  his  conversion  even,  shows 
very  vividly  the  contrast  between  the  two  periods  of 
conversion,  the  one  led  by  him,  the  other  by  Newman. 
Manning,  even  in  his  earliest  controversial  writing,  in 
connection  with  the  Tractarian  movement  (1842),  took 
his  stand  upon  the  mere  external  mechanical  conception 
of  Church  unity.  It  was  in  consequence  of  the  Gorham 
decision  that  he  identified  this  conception  wdth  the  ex- 
clusive claim  of  his  own  party  to  represent  the  Church, 
He  stood  personally  at  the  head  of  the  protesting  move- 
ment. He  himself  described  at  a  later  time  the  scene  at 
the  subscribing  of  the  protest:  "  At  the  moment  of  sub- 
scribing, one  of  the  authors  of  the  protest,  turning  to  the 
others,  exclaimed :  '  If  the  Church  of  England  does  not 
repudiate  this  judgment,  I  suppose  we  are  all  ready  to 
leave  her  ?'  '  For  my  part,'  answered  one  of  us,  '  I 
shall  never  leave  her,  cost  what  it  may.'  "  The  one  that 
put  the  question  was  Manning,  the  other  was  Pusey. 

The  protest  was  repudiated  by  the  bishops,  and  the 
subscribers  were  considerably  embarrassed.  They  had 
recourse  to  an  appeal,  against  the  bishops'  judgment,  to 
the  rest  of  the  clergy.  This  meant,  from  their  point  of 
view,  to  whom  the  apostolical  succession  of  the  bishops 
was  the  corner-stone  of  the  Church,  open  revolution. 
But  the  appeal  had  no  great  success. 


292  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

In  order  to  understand  Manning's  plans  in  connection 
with  the  general  ecclesiastical  situation,  we  must  not  for- 
get that  the  year  of  the  judgment  in  the  Gorham  case, 
1849,  w^s  t^^  year  of  the  establishment  of  the  papal 
hierarchy  in  England.  This  wisely  calculated  coup  d'etat^ 
carried  through  regardless  of  consequences  —  the  ex- 
pression of  the  pope's  gratitude  for  Catholic  emancipa- 
tion, which  made  clear  to  those  who  had  laboured  to 
bring  about  emancipation  that  the  Papacy  did  not  recog- 
nise its  opponents'  rights,  —  will  be  fully  considered  in 
another  connection.  But  in  reviewing  Manning's  earlier 
and  later  position,  the  fact  is  of  no  slight  importance  that 
he  delayed  his  open  conversion  until  the  furious  storm 
occasioned  by  the  "  anti-papal  aggression  "  had  calmed 
down.  It  was  not  until  October,  185 1,  that  he  considered 
the  time  propitious  for  the  contemplated  step. 

The  first  three  years  after  his  conversion  were  spent  in 
Rome,  and  from  there  he  returned  as  Doctor  Romanus. 
As  such  he  was  affiliated  with  the  Jesuits.  His  wife  had 
died,  and  there  was  therefore  nothing  to  prevent  his  en- 
trance into  the  Roman  hierarchy.  He  had  in  Rome 
been  admitted  to  the  order  of  Oblates  of  St.  Charles  Bor- 
romeo,  and  after  his  return  he  founded  a  monastery  of 
this  order  in  Bayswater,  a  suburb  of  London.  Bayswater 
is  said  to  have  become,  in  consequence,  a  half-Roman 
suburb.  Somewhat  later  Manning  also  transplanted  the 
Soeurs  du  S.  Sion  and  the  Geneva  school  brothers  to 
England.  During  the  last  years  of  Wiseman  he  almost 
forced  the  latter  into  the  background. 

More  significant  still  are  the  events  at  his  nomination 
to  succeed  Wiseman.  This  was  a  new  act  of  violence  on 
the  part  of  the  Papacy,  in  no  way  inferior  to  that  which 
had  been  inflicted  upon  the  English  Church  by  the  im- 
position of  the  Roman  hierarchy.  Both  the  chapter  and 
the  provincial  bishops  had  proposed  three  other  can- 
didates.    Pius  IX.  simply  forced  his  favourite  Manning 


The  Oxford  Movemeid  293 

upon  them.  The  latter  entered  upon  his  new  dignity 
with  the  public  expression  of  the  hope  that  the  English 
schism,  like  the  Arian  and  the  Donatist,  would  fall  to 
pieces  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  centuries  would  remain 
only  as  an  historical  curiosity. 

The  position  of  primate  of  the  Roman  opposition 
Church  in  England  gave  to  Manning  the  outer  form,  and 
it  depended  upon  him  to  give  to  this  form  a  substantial 
meaning.  In  this  he  was  successful.  To  render  an  ac- 
count of  what  he  did  for  the  Roman  world-power  by  means 
of  his  many  sensational  demonstrations  would  require  a 
special  work.  One  of  his  first  acts  was  "  the  erection  of 
a  cathedral  commensurate  with  the  size  of  the  Catholic 
population  and  the  dignity  of  the  archdiocese."  One 
of  the  many  rich  converts,  Sir  John  Sutton,  furnished 
the  means  for  the  purchase  of  the  ground. 

Such  outward  manifestations  are  proper  to  the  nature 
of  the  papal  Church,  which  devotes  itself  by  preference 
to  spectacular  exhibitions.  Far  more  important  were  the 
attacks  made  by  the  new  archbishop  upon  the  Church  of 
the  land,  whenever  the  latter  passed  through  a  new  crisis. 
These  later  crises,  which  ensued  as  by  a  law  of  nature  in 
consequence  of  the  forced  union  of  three  heterogeneous 
tendencies  in  the  Church  of  England,  are  not  to  be  over- 
looked, if  we  would  fully  grasp  the  reasons  for  the  con- 
tinual progress  of  the  Roman  Propaganda  in  England. 
Every  time  broad-Church  criticism  or  low-Church  friend- 
liness toward  dissenters  made  itself  prominent,  the  high- 
Church  party  renewed  its  opposition.  So  it  was  with 
the  agitation  called  forth  by  the  Essays  and  Reviews, 
with  the  opposition  to  Bishop  Colenso,  with  the  grow- 
ing animosity  against  the  modern  methods  of  nature 
study ;  so  it  was,  again,  when  the  efforts  of  Moody  and 
Sankey,  of  Pearsall  Smith,  or  the  comedies  of  the  Salva- 
tion Army  were  patronised  by  the  "  Evangelicals." 

With  a  dexterity  in  which  he  was  equalled  only  by 


294  ^^^^  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

Bishops  Dupanloup  and  Ketteler,  Manning  understood 
how  to  use  these  crises  in  such  a  way  as  to  force  the  con- 
viction upon  the  Anglo-Catholic  party  that  their  ecclesi- 
astical ideal  was  capable  of  realisation  only  in  union  with 
Rome.  We  mention,  by  way  of  illustration,  his  letter  to 
Pusey  at  the  acquittal  of  the  authors  of  the  Essays  and 
Reviews.  The  very  title,  The  Crown  in  Council,  was  ad- 
mirably calculated  to  stir  up  the  Puseyite  antipathy  to 
the  supremacy  of  the  crown.  The  first  letter  (which 
Pusey  did  not  answer)  was  soon  followed  by  a  second, 
on  The  Work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  Church  of  England. 
This  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  consisted,  of  course,  prin- 
cipally in  conversions  to  Rome.  It  is  a  question  whether 
Pusey  would  have  made  any  reply  to  the  renewed  chal- 
lenge, had  not  Newman's  History  of  my  Religious  Opin- 
ions demanded  an  answer.  At  any  rate,  we  may  say  of 
Pusey's  Eirenicon,  in  which,  over  against  Newman's  and 
Manning's  defection  to  Rome,  he  gave  the  reasons  for 
his  remaining  in  the  Church  of  England,  that  it  had  a 
considerable  effect  in  staying  the  stream  of  theological 
conversions. 

All  of  Manning's  attacks  upon  his  mother  Church  wit- 
ness to  the  same  talent  and  also  to  the  same  fanaticism. 
His  zeal  turned  every  means  to  account.  There  is  in  the 
contemporary  history  of  England,  political  as  well  as 
ecclesiastical,  hardly  an  important  event  with  which  the 
Roman  primate  in  one  form  or  another  has  not  con- 
nected his  name.  It  is  true,  as  has  been  said,  that  he 
"  obtained  a  position  in  English  society  such  as  no 
Catholic  (z.  e.,  Roman)  bishop  has  had  since  Reginald 
Pole."  The  personal  peculiarities  by  which  Manning 
gained  this  position  have  been  described  as  "  his  many 
connections  and  his  fine  manners."  The  etiquette  of 
the  salon  offered  to  the  representative  of  Rome  the  best 
field  of  operations  for  his  intended  conquests  among  the 
society  of  the  nobility.      The  courtesy  of  the  cultured 


The  Oxford  Movement  295 

Englishman  smoothed  the  path,  step  by  step,  for  his 
further  plans.  Scarcely  an  appeal  can  be  found  in  behalf 
of  a  philanthropic  work  which  is  not  subscribed  to  by 
the  delegate  of  the  pope  in  England. 

But  the  same  man,  whose  advances  were  met  in  the 
most  friendly  spirit  by  the  representatives  of  the  religious 
circles  of  England,  more  and  more  unreservedly  set 
papalism  in  the  place  of  Catholicism.  In  full  opposition 
to  Dollinger  and  Newman  he  dared,  as  early  as  1865,  to 
defend  the  temporal  power  of  the  pope  with  arguments 
which  nowhere  sounded  more  sophistical  than  in  Great 
Britain.  The  new  dogma  of  Pius  IX.  found  hardly  any 
more  passionate  defender.  Although  Manning  liked  to 
have  his  name  appear  in  connection  with  movements 
outside  the  Church,  yet  when  in  1866  the  establishment 
of  an  association  of  prayer  for  the  reunion  of  the  churches 
was  agitated,  he  forebade  the  participation  of  the  faithful 
in  it.  The  reason  was  given  that  "  it  was  of  questionable 
expediency,  even  dangerous,  for  a  Catholic  to  take  part 
in  such  associations,  because  in  spite  of  the  strongest  faith 
he  might  easily  be  induced  to  make  the  most  serious  con- 
cessions." 

What  the  state  as  such  had  to  expect  from  a  realisation 
of  Manning's  ideas  is  made  clear  by  one  of  his  latest 
writings  on  Tlie  Catholic  Church  and  Modern  Society.  In 
the  final  conclusions  which  he  draws  in  the  fourth  section 
we  read  this  sentence : 

The  Catholic  Church  can  only  to  a  limited  degree  maintain 
political  relations  with  those  European  states  that  have  sepa- 
rated themselves  from  the  unity  of  the  faith.  In  them  we  find 
either  regalism  introduced,  as  in  England,  Denmark,  and 
Sweden,  or  csesarism,  as  in  Prussia.  Inasmuch  as  these  states 
have  departed  from  the  canon  law  of  Catholic  Christendom, 
they  have  rendered  cordial  co-operation  impossible. 

What  the  "  canon  law  of  Catholic  Christendom,"  in  other 


296  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

words,  the  papal  system  as  founded  upon  the  pseudo- 
Isidorian  decretals,  demands,  has  been  made  sufficiently 
evident  since  the  Vatican  decrees.  The  departure  of  these 
states  from  this  "  canon  law  "  consists  in  the  fact  that 
they  acknowledge,  not  only  the  "  rights  "  of  the  Propa- 
ganda, but  also  the  rights  of  other  beliefs.  As  long  as 
they  are  unwilling  to  renounce  this  fundamental  error  and 
to  place  the  temporal  power  at  the  disposal  of  the  "  unity 
of  the  faith  "  for  the  extirpation  of  heretics,  they  have 
"  rendered  cordial  co-operation  with  the  Catholic  Church 
impossible." 

But  it  is  time  to  turn  from  Manning  himself  to  those 
who  followed  his  example.  For  with  all  the  difference 
between  the  personalities  of  Newman  and  Manning,  the 
conversion  of  both  had  the  same  result,  in  so  far  as  it  be- 
came the  signal  for  a  number  of  those  who  were  of  the 
same  mind.  In  the  one  year  1851,  in  which  Manning's 
defection  took  place,  we  count  besides  those  already 
named  twenty-two  high  ecclesiastics  who  took  the  same 
step.  Nor  did  the  movement  come  to  a  standstill  in  the 
following  years,  although  it  gradually  somewhat  abated. 
But  we  find  in  the  number  of  later  theological  converts 
no  eminent  qualities  or  performances,  excepting  titles, 
connections,  and  property. 

Only  one  name,  and  that  the  name  of  a  man  who  was 
a  leader  in  the  beginning  of  the  Tractarian  movement, 
demands  special  mention  in  connection  with  Manning. 
It  is  William  Palmer,  the  same  who,  as  early  as  1839, 
in  his  treatise  upon  The  Church  of  Christ  from  the 
Anglo-Catholic  Point  of  View,  had  shown  evident  tend- 
encies towards  Rome,  and  who  in  1842  in  his  Letter 
to  a  Protestant  Catholic  hurled  loud  anathemas  against 
Protestantism. 

Nevertheless,  Palmer  did  not  immediately  follow  either 
Newman  or  Manning.     On  the  contrary,  we  see  him  in 


The  Oxford  Movement  297 

1853  entering  into  negotiations  with  the  Russian  synod 
concerning  an  alliance  with  the  Church  of  England  —  ne- 
gotiations which,  like  all  others,  failed  on  account  of  the 
Filioque.  After  his  return,  Palmer  called  down  upon  him- 
self episcopal  censure,  because  he  had  acted  without  the 
authority  of  the  episcopate.  His  action,  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  Episcopal  Church,  was  as  revolutionary  as 
Manning's  appeal  to  the  clergy  had  been.  Nevertheless, 
he  made  a  similar  attempt  with  the  Scottish  bishops, 
anticipating,  in  view  of  the  Tory  origin  of  their  Church, 
a  more  favourable  reception  of  his  plans  than  he  had 
found  in  England.  Not  till  after  this  step  had  proved 
futile  did  he  journey  to  Rome,  in  1855.  The  exercises 
of  St.  Ignatius  finally  overcame  his  scruples  against  open 
conversion.  He  remained  in  Rome  and  wrote  a  pam- 
phlet in  which  he  turned  history  into  romance  by  telling 
us  what  is  not  found  in  the  catacombs,  but  what  in  the 
interests  of  the  Papacy  ought  to  be  found  there. 

With  Manning  and  Palmer  there  passed  into  the 
Roman  Church  the  last  leaders  of  the  old  Tractarian 
movement  who  left  the  Church  of  England.  For  not 
only  did  the  closer  circle  around  Pusey  not  follow  them; 
Keble  also,  who  in  the  beginning  of  the  movement 
played  a  conspicuous  part,  afterwards  turned  back.  In 
the  subsequent  development  of  the  Church  of  England, 
Puseyism  was  succeeded  by  so-called  Ritualism,  whose 
object  was  to  romanise  the  worship  of  the  Church.  The 
several  usages  which  the  ritualists  gradually  introduced 
into  the  service,  vestments  and  candles,  elevation  of  the 
host  and  incense,  and  many  others,  appeal  to  be  so 
trivial  and  childish  that  it  is  difficult  to  understand  how 
serious  men  could  busy  themselves  with  such  things. 
Nevertheless,  even  to  a  man  like  Hopkins,  Ritualism 
stands  for  a  genuine  ecclesiastical  ideal,  and  the  tendency 
concealed  at  its  first  appearance  a  far  greater  danger  than 
that  of  the  old  Tractarians.     The  dogmatic  niceties  of 


298  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

Puseyism  had  little  interest  for  the  religious  laity.  Rit- 
ualism, on  the  other  hand,  was  bound  to  exert  a  strong 
influence   in  accustoming  the  laity   to    Roman    usages. 

This  enables  us  to  understand  the  attention  which  the 
new  movement  attracted,  and  the  many  controversies 
occasioned  by  the  youthful  zealots  who  were  its  noisiest 
agitators.  For  it  is  a  fact  that  British  Church-history  of 
the  last  twenty-five  years  is  largely  made  up  of  renewed 
aggressions  on  the  part  of  the  ritualists  and  legal  actions 
instituted  against  them  (Bennett,  Cheyne,  Mackonochie, 
etc.).  It  was  a  natural  consequence  that  of  the  accused 
and  condemned  ritualists  a  considerable  number  in  the 
end  found  their  way  to  Rome.  We  have,  however — 
with  the  exception  of  the  literary  stragglers  already  men- 
tioned —  not  been  able  to  find  any  persons  of  eminence 
among  the  converted  ritualists. 

The  English  daily  papers  every  year  print  the  names 
of  new  converts,  and  the  display  made  with  these  lists 
rather  increases  than  diminishes.  And  yet  there  is  the 
greatest  conceivable  contrast  between  this  display  and 
the  reality.  How  different  is  the  picture  which  Newman 
draws  in  his  History  of  my  Religious  Opinions,  a  book 
which  is  considered  by  Roman  Catholic  authorities  to 
mark  the  height  of  his  fame  and  public  influence  and  to 
represent  the  most  considerable  literary  triumph  which 
Catholicism  has  obtained  in  England,  but  which,  on  the 
other  hand,  called  down  upon  the  most  eminent  of  all 
converts  the  irreconcilable  hatred  of  Pius  IX.,  and  from 
whose  publication  (together  with  Pusey's  Eirenicon^  we 
date  the  first  ebbing  of  the  tide  in  the  stream  of  converts. 
Why  does  Newman  speak  so  emphatically  of  the  "  little 
band  "  ?  Why  does  he  make  the  remarkable  declara- 
tion: "  So  long  as  we  Catholics  in  England  are  so  weak, 
the  Church  of  England  represents  us  "  ?  The  effect  of 
the  secessions  to  the  Church  of  Rome  was  not  what  was 
expected.     In  fact,  ever  since  the  Vatican  Council  the 


TJie  Oxford  Movement  299 

Anglo-CathoHc  party  has,  more  than  all  others,  become 
conscious  of  the  utter  antagonism  of  Catholicism  and 
papalism:  a  fact  which  forebodes  for  the  future  a  con- 
tinually increasing  reaction. 

Great  parade  has  been  made  by  the  representatives  of 
the  Papacy  with  the  names  of  converts  of  high  position. 
But,  although  we  do  not  deny  the  learning  and  the  logic 
of  the  converted  theologians,  we  have  no  such  respect 
for  those  bearers  of  illustrious  names  who  have  figured  so 
prominently  in  the  lists  of  converts.  Who,  that  has  fol- 
lowed with  interest  the  course  of  public  affairs  in  the  ten 
years  after  1870,  does  not  remember  how  in  the  most 
childish  demonstrations  against  Bismarck's  policy  the 
names  of  Earl  Denbigh,  Earl  Gainsborough,  Sir  George 
Bowyer,  and  many  more  were  paraded  before  the  public  ? 
These  gentlemen  were  made  out  to  be  the  born  repre- 
sentatives of  the  English  Catholics.  Most  of  them 
were  in  reality  the  mere  irresponsible  tools  of  adroit 
proselytisers. 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  the  ladies  who  belong  to  the 
same  category, — the  many  duchesses,  marchionesses, 
countesses,  and  baronesses  ?  Revelations,  like  those 
made  by  Earl  Nelson  concerning  the  unworthy  means 
by  which  his  son,  still  under  age,  was  converted  behind 
his  father's  back,  are  repeated  with  almost  all  these 
young  converts.  Indeed,  the  reading  of  the  "  conver- 
sions "  too  often  creates  the  impression  that  these  people 
were  simple  idiots.  The  authors  of  the  lists  of  converts 
seem  to  have  understood  the  principle  that  in  matters 
of  religion  men  are  not  to  be  counted  but  weighed,  in  the 
sense  that  not  their  persons  but  their  money-bags  were 
to  be  weighed.  The  great  sums  which  the  converts  in 
different  lands  have  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  papal 
party,  rival  the  treasures  of  the  greatest  magnates  of  the 
exchange.  But  for  this  very  reason  the  great  majority 
of  the  cases  which  come  under  the  head  of  conversions 


300  The  Papacy  hi  the  igth  Century 

among  the  nobility  afford  neither  a  religious  nor  a  theo- 
logical, but  only  an  exchange  interest. 

Lord  Fielding,  afterwards  Earl  Denbigh,  was  won  over 
by  Bishop  Gillis.  In  the  same  year  Sir  George  Bowyer 
seceded  to  Rome.  His  chief  claim  to  fame  lies  in  the 
introduction  of  the  order  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John  into 
England.  Since  then  this  order,  together  with  that  of 
the  Holy  Sepulchre,  the  papal  order  of  the  Golden  Spur, 
and  the  Roman  title  of  count,  has  played  a  similar  part 
in  the  lists  of  noble  converts  as  the  dignities  of  papal 
house-prelates,  prothonotaries,  cardinals,  and  the  like 
have  played  with  converted  clerics. 

The  number  of  gentlemen  and  ladies  who  followed  at 
this  time  is  legion.  Among  them  are:  Sir  John  Simeon, 
member  of  Parliament  for  the  Isle  of  Wight;  Sir  James 
Hope  Scott,  by  his  first  wife  (a  granddaughter  of  Walter 
Scott)  owner  of  Abbotsford ;  Robert  Biddulph  PhiHpps, 
who  spent  large  sums  in  restoring  a  ruined  church  on 
his  estate  and  gave  his  library  to  a  monastery ;  and  the 
poet,  Aubrey  de  Vere.  In  the  one  year,  1851,  that  of 
Manning's  secession,  sixteen  other  illustrious  families  are 
counted.  It  is  a  fact  which  hardly  requires  an  explana- 
tion that  after  the  "  return  "  to  Rome  had  become  the 
fashion  the  number  of  those  who  took  part  in  the  move- 
ment steadily  increased,  and  also  that  the  religious  mo- 
tives which  operated  here  and  there  in  the  beginning 
were  more  and  more  lost  sight  of.  And  as  was  the  case 
with  the  large  majority  of  the  converts  from  the  German 
aristocracy,  so  with  their  English  associates  we  meet 
often  with  the  most  pronounced  political  reactionary 
tendencies. 

Among  the  nobility,  the  conversions  of  the  marquis  of 
Bute  and  of  the  marquis  of  Ripon  made  the  greatest 
sensation.  The  latter  became  afterwards,  under  Glad- 
stone, viceroy  of  India.  Of  the  female  sex  we  find  a 
still  larger  number,  among  whom  are  the  duchesses  of 


The  Oxford  Movement  301 

Hamilton,  Leeds,  and  Buccleugh,  and  Lady  Herbert  of 
Lea,  who  defended  her  secession  in  an  open  letter  to  her 
brother,  and  who  wrote  Impressions  of  Spam,  which  it  is 
interesting  to  compare  with  the  reality  as  it  was  revealed 
two  years  later  at  the  expulsion  of  Queen  Isabella.  With 
the  converts  of  this  period  we  must  also  mention  Miss 
Adelaide  Procter,  the  poetess;  and  whoever  cares  to  do 
so,  may  refer  to  the  lists  for  a  host  of  other  names. 

None  of  the  conquests  of  the  Papacy  can,  in  outward 
splendour,  be  compared  with  the  English  conversions. 
We  will  therefore  briefly  sum  up  the  statistics.  In  the 
year  1852  there  had  seceded  92  members  of  the  uni- 
versity of  Oxford,  43  members  of  the  university  of 
Cambridge;  among  the  former  6^,  among  the  latter  19, 
divines.  Ten  years  later,  there  were  put  down  867 
proselytes  of  note,  among  them  243  former  AngHcan 
clergymen.  In  the  year  1879,  ^^^  Whitehall  Review 
published  a  list  of  41  pages,  in  which  were  350  clergy- 
men. From  this  list  we  extract  this  further  informa- 
tion, that  the  number  contained  i  field  marshal,  7 
generals,  4  admirals,  23  colonels  and  majors,  not  to  men- 
tion the  captains  and  lieutenants.  The  nobility  is  repre- 
sented by  6  duchesses,  2  marquises,  and  many  earls  and 
barons.  After  these  we  find  members  of  Parliament, 
lawyers,  artists,  etc.  The  list  proves  —  what  indeed  we 
already  knew — that  the  conversions  were  a  fashion  which 
had  become  prevalent  in  the  upper  world.  As  Cardinal 
Wiseman  said,  the  whole  movement  "  found  most  diffi- 
cult entrance  and  the  most  sterile  soil  in  the  middle  and 
industrial  classes." 

But  quite  aside  from  the  large  dimensions  of  the  move- 
ment, whoever  studies  the  literature  of  conversion  will 
observe  certain  other  peculiarities.  One  is  particularly 
struck  by  the  differences  which  existed  among  the  con- 
verts themselves  and  between  them  and  born  Catholics. 


302  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

The  difference  in  the  treatment  given  to  a  man  Hke  New- 
man by  Pius  IX.  and  Leo  XIII.  affords  an  instructive 
insight  into  the  mutually  hostile  tendencies  in  the  same 
Church  of  Rome,  which  was  so  proud  of  its  unity.  The 
main  argument  of  the  English  converts  had  been  that 
ecclesiastical  unity  was  to  be  had  only  in  Rome.  Now 
they  found  oppositions  more  acute  than  before.  Even 
before  the  appearance  of  Newman's  autobiography  and 
the  dogma  of  papal  infallibility,  the  greatest  differences 
had  come  to  the  surface  among  the  converts  themselves. 
Before  the  Tractarian  movement,  in  the  time  preceding 
the  real  era  of  secession,  we  have  this  drastic  description 
by  Oakeley : 

In  many  important  questions  we  found  ourselves  split  into 
different  parties.  When  the  various  persons,  who  as  the  ex- 
ponents of  Oxford  opinions  were  generally  treated  almost  as 
one  person,  met  one  another  in  society,  they  were  so  little  sure 
of  unanimity  of  opinion  that  the  fear  of  quarrelling  was  any- 
thing but  favourable  to  their  mutual  intercourse,  and  prompted 
many  of  their  sincerest  friends  to  join  societies  which  confined 
enthusiasm  within  narrower  limits,  and  thereby  obviated  the 
danger  of  dissension. 

Far  more  significant,  however,  is  Newman's  account 
of  the  "  old  school,"  to  which  he  belonged,  and  the 
"  new  school,"  "  which  entered  into  the  original  move- 
ment obliquely  from  one  side,  crossed  its  line  of  thought, 
bent  it  around  and  carried  it  in  a  parallel  line  backward." 
He  complains  bitterly  that  the  old  friends  had  forsaken 
him:  "  You  throw  me,  whether  I  will  or  not,  into  the 
arms  of  others  " ;  and  that  he  "  could  never  devote  him- 
self to  the  persons  and  to  the  lines  of  thought,  which  had 
come  together  in  the  new  school,  in  the  same  way  as  to 
the  old  circle";  although  "  I  felt  myself  mightily  at- 
tracted to  their  main  purpose  and  moved  in  the  same 
direction  with  them."  But  that  he  did  this  with  a  di- 
vided heart  is  proved  by  this  frank  confession : 


The  Oxford  Movement  303 

So  it  happened  that,  when  the  new  school  had  come  to  ma- 
turity and  had  begun  to  quarrel  with  the  old,  I  did  not  have 
the  heart  and  much  less  the  power  to  refuse  them;  I  placed 
myself  on  their  side;  at  a  time  when  I  craved  peace  and  rest 
I  felt  obliged  to  raise  my  voice,  and  so  I  incurred  the  reproach 
of  weakness  from  some,  while  the  great  mass  accused  me  of 
concealment  of  purpose,  of  false  play  and  of  equivocation. 

Even  those  historians  on  the  Roman  side,  whose  ob- 
ject it  was  to  make  the  new  converts  appear  as  a  compact 
body,  are  not  able  to  deny  the  manifest  differences 
among  them,  and  the  German  historian  Rosenthal  says 
of  Ward:  "  He  represents  in  English  theology  most 
purely,  but  with  his  own  originality,  the  views  of  the 
Roman  school  and  of  the  later  scholasticism,  while  he 
has  a  certain  antipathy  towards  that  school  of  older  the- 
ologians to  which  Newman  is  drawn."  And  another 
German,  Alzog,  makes  this  significant  remark:  "  Car- 
dinal Wiseman  was  very  glad  when  the  Home  and 
Foreign  Review,  edited  by  Lord  Acton,  was  started  in 
opposition  to  the  Diibli^i  Review,  whose  tendency,  under 
the  editorship  of  the  convert  Ward,  was  altogether  too  ex- 
treme." This  is  the  same  Lord  Acton  who  at  the  time  of 
the  Vatican  Council  went  hand  in  hand  with  Dollinger; 
and  his  action  proves  unmistakably  the  existence  of  irre- 
concilable differences  in  the  Church  of  Rome  in  England. 

Wiseman,  being  a  born  Catholic,  was  able  to  hold  the 
warring  factions  together.  But  when  Pius  IX.,  in  the 
face  of  the  opposition  of  chapter  and  bishops,  appointed 
to  the  primacy  the  most  zealous  and  the  most  hierarchical 
of  all  the  converts,  there  was  an  end  of  peace.  Manning 
belonged  to  the  inner  circle  of  the  initiated  in  the  man- 
agement of  the  Vatican  Council.  At  this  same  Vatican 
Council  Bishop  ClifTord,  recalling  the  sworn  declaration 
of  the  Irish  bishops  at  the  time  of  Emancipation,'  made 
the  following  statement: 

'  See  page  76. 


304  The  Papacy  ifi  the  igth  Century 

No  one  will  convince  the  Protestants  that  the  Catholics  have 
not  acted  contrary  to  honour  and  good  faith,  when,  for  the 
securing  of  certain  rights  they  publicly  professed  that  the  doc- 
trine of  papal  infallibility  was  not  a  part  of  the  Catholic  faith, 
and  then,  when  they  had  obtained  the  fulfilment  of  their 
desire,  immediately  receded  from  this  public  profession  and 
affirmed  the  contrary. 

Lord  Acton  and  Bishop  Clifford  were  no  converts,  but 
representatives  of  old  Catholic  family  traditions.  It  was 
in  the  nature  of  things  that,  if  the  differences  among  the 
converts  were  so  acute,  the  contrast  between  them  and 
born  Catholics  should  appear  far  more  decided.  And 
the  biographies  of  the  converts  themselves  repeatedly 
point  out  the  many  differences  between  the  tendencies  of 
born  Catholics  and  those  of  the  neophytes.  In  one  of 
the  earliest  French  works  upon  The  Religious  Movement 
in  England,  by  Gondon  (1847),  the  former  are  contrasted 
with  the  latter  and  reproached  with  "  reserve  and  timid- 
ity." The  same  charge  is  made  by  the  German  author 
already  quoted,  who  says  that 

the  older  Catholics  avoided  everything  that  could  infringe 
upon  the  customs  of  their  Protestant  fellow-citizens,  they  ob- 
served Sunday  with  the  same  pedantry  as  the  Protestants, 
their  clergy  wore  no  costume  different  from  that  of  other 
classes,  the  rosary  was  rarely  to  be  found  in  private  houses 
and  families,  etc. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  attitude  assumed,  even 
among  the  first  converts,  in  the  reviews  and  periodicals 
which  they  set  on  foot,  towards  the  older  Catholic  gen- 
eration. We  take  as  an  illustration  the  Tablet,  founded 
by  Frederick  Lucas,  in  1840.  This  is  what  Lucas' 
biographer  says  of  the  opposition  which  this  organ  called 
forth  among  the  Roman  Catholics: 

With  only  one  object  in  view,  the  furtherance  of  the  in- 


The  Oxford  Movement  305 

terests  of  his  Church,  including  the  most  complete  conservation 
of  the  civil  rights  of  its  members,  he  spoke  the  language  of  a 
man  who  was  pursuing  a  purpose  with  entire  and  perfect  sin- 
cerity, and  he  had  no  patience  for  what  seemed  to  him  weak 
and  hesitating  politics.  But  years  of  oppression  and  persecu- 
tion had  not  been  without  effect  upon  English  Catholics,  and 
had  left  behind  no  little  timidity  and  caution,  nor  were  there 
wanting  other  motives  to  moderate  the  fervor  of  their  zeal. 
Many  of  them,  who  had  fought  manfully  for  political  equality, 
considered  themselves,  after  the  passage  of  the  emancipation 
bill,  bound  by  honour  and  gratitude  not  to  be  unreasonable 
in  urging  further  concessions  on  the  part  of  their  Protestant 
friends  and  helpers.  Others,  although  sincerely  devoted  to 
their  religion,  did  not  consider  it  necessary  or  advantageous 
to  make  it  prominent  upon  ordinary  occasions  or  to  connect 
it  with  every  object  of  public  interest.  Others  again  were 
under  the  influence  of  strictly  aristocratic  feelings,  and  shrank 
from  everything  that  looked  like  popular  agitation,  even  in 
favour  of  their  own  religious  opinions.  To  all  of  these  Lucas 
now  addressed  himself  in  a  tone  of  indignant  censure  as  to 
those  who  had  culpably  neglected  the  talent  committed  to 
them,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  they  resented  his  language. 
It  must  have  been  particularly  offensive  to  those  hereditary 
leaders  of  the  party,  whose  Catholicism  had  descended  to  them 
with  the  estates  and  the  honours  of  their  ancestors,  who  in 
dark  and  stormy  times  had  held  fast  to  their  faith,  who  could 
point  to  the  names  of  confessors  and  martyrs  in  their  family 
histories,  and  whose  old  castles  still  contained  the  hiding- 
places  which  had  concealed  the  persecuted  priesthood,  as  well 
as  the  secret  chapels  in  which  in  dangerous  times  mass  had 
been  said.  For  such  it  was  really  hard  to  be  called  to  account 
and  to  be  accused  of  lukewarmness,  not  by  a  dignitary  of  the 
Church  or  other  spiritual  authority,  but  by  an  obscure  layman, 
a  convert  of  yesterday. 

With  the  nomination  of  Manning  to  the  primacy  of 
the  Roman  English  Church,  the  leadership  went  entirely 
into  the  hands  of  converts  of  his  school,  and  the  older 


3o6  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

Catholic  element  has  been  pushed  to  the  rear.  Roman 
Catholic  journals  and  periodicals  have  been  almost  with- 
out exception  founded  or  at  least  edited  by  converts. 
This  is  true,  among  others,  of  the  Dublin  Review  (Ward's 
organ),  of  Atlantis  (Newman's  creation),  of  the  Rambler 
(edited  in  succession  by  the  converts  Capes,  Northcote, 
Simpson,  Newman,  and  Wetherell),  of  the  Home  and 
Foreign  Review  (conducted  also  by  Wetherell),  of  the 
Tablet  (founded  by  Lucas,  afterwards  in  the  hands  of 
Ryley),  of  the  Weekly  Register  (owned  by  the  converted 
members  of  the  Wilberforce  family),  and  of  the  Month 
(edited  by  Coleridge).  The  Clifton  Tracts,  the  model  of 
a  German  pamphlet-series,  were  founded  by  Northcote 
and  Thompson. 

In  the  field  of  general  literature  also,  especially  wher- 
ever there  was  a  possibility  of  controversy,  born  Catholics 
are  far  behind  the  converts.  But  we  meet  their  influence 
especially  in  the  daily  press :  not  only  are  there  numerous 
avowedly  clerical  sheets,  but  both  in  liberal  and  in  con- 
servative organs  a  large  number  of  converts  is  employed.' 
Cardinal  Manning  is  said  to  have  founded  a  sort  of 
seminary  for  the  training  of  young  men  for  this  kind  of 
press  activity. 

The  numerous  monasteries  and  congregations,  founded 
and  managed  by  converts,  are  anything  but  asylums  for 
those  who  are  weary  of  this  world.  They  are  rather 
centres  of  the  most  energetic  agitation.  To  the  congre- 
gations of  Oratorians,  founded  by  Newman  and  Faber, 
have  been  added  the  Oblates  of  St.  Charles  at  Bayswater 
and  an  increasing  number  of  institutions  of  Jesuits,  Re- 
demptorists,  and  Brothers  of  Charity,  which  are  mostly 
filled  with  converts  ;  to  say  nothing  of  female  orders 
and  congregations. 

'  In  one  of  our  American  daily  papers  the  feeling  in  England  against 
Germany  was  recently  ascribed  to  the  influence  of  Roman  Catholic  reporters 
for  the  English  daily  press. 


The  Oxford  Movement  307 

The  consequence  of  all  this  is  that  the  born  Catholics 
of  Great  Britain  are  now  almost  a  neglected  quantity. 
Quite  different,  however,  is  the  final  result  of  the  whole 
movement  as  it  affects  the  Church  of  England.  For 
with  the  secession  of  those  who  corrupted  the  Catholic 
ideal,  always  strenuously  insisted  upon  by  the  Church  of 
England,  and  gave  it  a  papal  meaning,  this  ideal  became 
purified  from  such  excrescences.  And  as  the  Church  of 
England  became  increasingly  conscious  of  its  historical 
position  as  the  representative  of  the  truly  Catholic  ideal, 
it  became  better  able  to  assert  this  position  outside  of  its 
own  limits.  From  this  point  of  view  we  learn  to  appre- 
ciate the  renewed  influence  which  the  Church  of  England 
and  the  German  Church  of  the  Reformation  have  mutu- 
ally exerted  upon  each  other.  The  latter  gave  to  the 
former  its  high  intellectual  aspiration,  which  seeks  truth 
for  truth's  sake;  and  Germany  learned  from  England  to 
understand  the  necessity  of  the  ecclesiastical  factor  for 
the  popular  welfare,  which  had  been  too  much  ignored 
by  the  philosophy  of  the  closet. 

From  this  point  of  view  we  also  learn  to  comprehend 
the  significance  for  the  future  of  the  old-Catholic  sacrifice 
for  conscience'  sake.  At  a  time  when  politicians  and 
scholars  in  Germany  had  nothing  but  ridicule  for  a  re- 
ligious movement  that  did  not  materialise  in  numbers, 
the  English  Church  did  not  refuse  the  brotherly  hand. 
And  their  participation  in  the  union  conferences  at 
Bonn,  under  DoUinger  in  1875,  proved  most  strikingly 
that  the  victory  over  an  attack  which  shook  its  very 
foundations  has  taught  this  Church  to  grasp  with  far 
greater  earnestness  its  world-historical  mission  for  the 
future. 

As  in  its  attitude  towards  other  countries,  so  in  Eng- 
land itself  the  Church  of  England  has  become  again  the 
guardian  of  true  Catholicism.  Of  its  activity  in  the  life 
of  the  people,  of  its  culture  of  all  intellectual  interests. 


3o8  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Ceiitury 

ecclesiastical  annals  may  tell  little.  It  is  with  a  church, 
which  quietly  and  peaceably  does  its  duty  in  the  service 
of  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  it  is  in  a  happy  marriage:  not 
much  is  said  of  it.  As,  on  the  other  hand,  the  disputes 
of  priests  and  doctors  of  the  law  have  at  all  times  been 
in  evidence,  so  it  has  been  with  the  papal  party  in  Eng- 
land. But  genuine  Anglo-Catholicism,  fructified  by  the 
philanthropy  of  the  low  Church  and  by  the  scientific 
research  of  the  broad  Church,  goes  in  security  its  earnest, 
quiet  way,  in  closest  alliance  with  the  national  culture. 
If  we  compare  the  state  Church  and  the  free  churches  of 
Great  Britain,  we  shall  find  in  the  former  a  much  wider 
and  freer  horizon.  The  Scotch  Free  Church  would  not 
tolerate  Robertson  Smith ;  the  English  state  Church  has 
learned  to  appreciate  more  and  more  highly  its  Robert- 
son and  Kingsley,  its  Hare  and  Arnold,  and  no  church 
of  the  present  time  has  had  a  nobler  representative  of  all 
the  ideals  of  true  church  life  than  Dean  Stanley  of 
Westminster. 

But  while  thus  the  association  with  the  national  cul- 
ture has  been  preserved,  the  sundering  of  the  bonds 
which  the  external  connection  with  the  state  has  imposed 
upon  the  established  Church,  which  not  without  reason 
had  challenged  the  opposition  of  the  Tractarians,  is  now 
only  a  question  of  time.  The  re-established  convoca- 
tions have  already  largely  taken  the  place  of  Parliament. 
The  disestablishment  of  the  Church  of  Ireland  has  been 
accomplished.  The  same  is  imminent  even  now  with  the 
Scotch  Church,  and  the  entire  inner  development  of  the 
Church  of  England  propels  it  in  the  same  direction.  A 
number  of  its  ancient  privileges  have  already  been  for- 
feited. Both  the  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill  and  the  Uni- 
versity Tests  Bill  were  repealed  in  the  year  1871.  By 
the  repeal  of  the  latter,  admittance  for  adherents  of  every 
form  of  belief  was  opened  to  all  degrees  in  the  universi- 
ties of  Oxford  and  Cambridge.     But   in  proportion  as 


The  Oxford  Movement  309 

the  special  privileges,  which  were  inconsistent  with  the 
spirit  of  the  times,  were  abandoned,  the  moral  power  of 
the  old  Church  of  England  has  increased. 

The  process  of  purification,  effected  by  the  secessions, 
has  thus  brought  a  blessing  to  the  Church  of  England. 
Since  the  Vatican  Council  the  movement  towards  the 
Church  of  Rome  has  not  only  come  to  a  standstill,  but  a 
reaction  has  set  in.  No  theologian  of  the  Protestant 
world  is  more  highly  esteemed  in  England  than  Bol- 
linger. The  "  Catholic  movement  "  has  largely  leaned 
upon  him  for  support.  He  sees  to-day  (1889)  in  the 
English  Church  one  of  the  firmest  bulwarks  of  Christen- 
dom, for  the  same  reason  which  made  him  recognise  in 
the  dogma  of  infallibility  the  seed  of  an  incurable  disease 
for  the  newly  established  German  empire.  And  if  we 
would  appreciate  the  moral  position  which  Bollinger 
has  occupied  since  1870  we  must  go,  not  to  Germany, 
but  to  England  and  America. 

Nor  has  the  opposition  between  Catholicism  and  Vati- 
canism ever  been  more  strikingly  pictured  than  has  been 
done  by  Gladstone;  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  copies  of  his  pamphlet  on  The  Vatican  Decrees 
in  their  Bearing  on  Civil  Allegiance  were  in  a  few  weeks 
spread  over  England  alone.  Littledale's  writing  also, 
Plain  Reasons  against  Joining  the  Church  of  Rome,  passed 
in  a  few  years  through  more  than  thirty  editions.  And 
is  it  not  for  the  future  of  Germany  and  of  Switzerland  a 
sign  of  the  times,  that  the  Catholic  historian  Br.  Los- 
sen  was  the  translator  of  Gladstone,  and  the  Catholic 
Church  historian,  Br.  Woker,  the  German  editor  of  Lit- 
tledale,  while  the  Catholic  bishop  Herzog  furnished  an 
introduction  ? 

Let  us  return  once  more  to  the  judgment  expressed 
by  Pusey's  American  biographer  Hopkins  upon  the  re- 
sults of  the  Catholic  movement.     One  of  the  first  effects 


3IO  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

in  his  judgment  is  the  restoration  of  the  ecclesiastical 
convocations,  which  had  slept  for  a  century  and  a  half, 
as  the  true  representatives  of  the  Church  in  place  of  the 
temporal  Parliament.  In  close  connection  herewith  is 
the  strengthening  of  the  Anglo-Catholic  conception  of 
the  Church  in  its  contrast  to  that  of  the  papal  system. 
The  Anglo-Catholic  Church  itself  in  both  hemispheres  has 
grown  so  rapidly  that,  instead  of  the  sixty-seven  bishops 
at  the  beginning  of  the  Tractarian  movement,  it  to-day 
counts  two  hundred  and  fifteen.  Far  greater,  however,  is 
the  growth  of  the  Church's  influence  upon  the  life  of  the 
people.  The  restoration  of  voluntary  confession  is  the 
result  of  the  recognition  of  the  pedagogical  functions  be- 
longing to  the  cure  of  souls.  The  so-called  new  orders,  es- 
pecially the  sisters'  homes,  are  asylums  intended  to  meet 
and  ameliorate  social  needs.  The  Catholic  name  simply 
stands  for  what  in  Germany  is  comprehended  under  the 
name  of  "  home  missions":  hospitals,  schools,  Magda- 
len-asylums, orphanages,  convalescent  homes,  trade- 
schools  and  sewing-schools,  all  the  various  efforts  to 
enhance  the  ability  for  self-support  among  the  female 
sex,  and  many  other  philanthropic  agencies. 

That  within  the  Church  of  England,  with  all  the  ap- 
preciation given  to  its  Catholic  character,  the  spirit  of 
the  Reformation  has  more  and  more  triumphed,  is 
proved,  among  other  things,  by  the  pan-Anglican  coun- 
cils, held  since  1867,  with  their  anti-papal  decrees.  It 
was  by  the  suggestion  of  Dr.  Pusey  that  the  pan-Anglican 
conferences  took  their  stand,  not  upon  the  first  four 
general  councils,  but  upon  the  first  six,  and  by  that  act 
included  in  their  doctrinal  basis  the  condemnation  of  an 
heretical  pope  by  an  ecumenical  council.  To  German 
Protestants  a  good  deal  will  still  appear  strange  in  these 
formularies.  But  German  Church  history  knows  of  sim- 
ilar attempts  at  union  upon  the  basis  of  the  undivided 
Church    of   the    first    six   centuries.      The   disputes   oc- 


The  Oxford  Movement 


311 


casioned  by  the  Syncretism  of  Calixtus,  early  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  drove  many  converts  into  the 
Church  of  Rome ;  but  Syncretism  became  in  the  end 
the  forerunner  of  Pietism  and  of  the  general  reinvigor- 
ation  of  Reformation  ideas.  Such  appears  to  be  to-day 
the  prospect  in  the  Church  of  England. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

THE   NEW   PAPAL   HIERARCHY   IN   ENGLAND   AND   THE 
FRUITS   OF  THE   PAPAL   SYSTEM   IN   IRELAND 

WE  have  already  mentioned  the  "  restoration  of  the 
Episcopal  hierarchy  "  as  coincident  with  the 
climax  of  English  conversions ;  this  was  the  requital  on 
the  part  of  the  pope  for  Catholic  emancipation.  The 
consideration  of  this  subject  was  interrupted  in  order  to 
trace  the  Anglo-Catholic  movement  through  its  various 
stages  to  the  final  outcome.  By  so  doing  we  have  now 
been  placed  in  a  position  to  follow  the  interferences  of 
the  Vatican  in  the  affairs  of  England,  not  as  an  isolated 
phenomenon,  but  in  connection  with  what  went  before 
and  with  what  came  after. 

Our  survey  of  the  progress  of  papalism  couples  the 
history  of  Ireland  with  that  of  England.  For  we  must 
keep  in  view  the  long  series  of  Irish  conspiracies,  charit- 
ably ignored  by  the  Papacy,  in  order  to  comprehend  the 
reactionary  step  which  England  took  when  she  sent 
Errington  on  a  mission  to  Rome  (1880).  From  the 
establishment  of  the  papal  hierarchy  by  Pius  IX.  to  the 
secret  mission  of  Errington  to  Leo  XIII.  the  papal  policy 
runs  a  straight  course. 

It  was  in  the  middle  of  October,  1850,  when  England 
was  surprised  by  the  announcement  that  the  pope  in 
secret  consistory  had  ordered  the  "  restoration  "  of  the 
"  Catholic"  hierarchy  in  England,  had  nominated  the 

312 


The  New  Papal  Hierarchy  in  England     313 

apostolic  vicar  Wiseman  as  archbishop  of  Westminster, 
and  had  divided  all  England  into  twelve  bishoprics  under 
him.  By  this  "  restoration  "  the  Church  of  England,  as 
by  law  established,  was  simply  treated  as  non-existent 
and  given  to  understand  that  she,  no  more  than  any 
other  schismatic  church,  could  claim  any  rights  over 
against  the  authority  of  the  Propaganda. 

In  view  of  the  care  with  which  the  Anglo-Catholic 
Church  had  always  guarded  the  apostolical  succession  of 
her  bishops,  there  was  in  this  action  a  much  larger  degree 
of  assumption  than  if  such  pretensions  had  been  made 
towards  bishopless  Protestants.  The  title  "  archbishop 
of  Westminster  "  was  particularly  outrageous,  because 
by  it  the  royal  court  and  the  Parliament  were  submitted 
to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Roman  prelate,  who  at  the 
same  time  received  the  title  of  cardinal. 

The  consequences  of  this  proceeding  were  just  what 
had  been  counted  upon  in  Rome:  intense  momentary 
excitement  without  any  real  fruits.  Every  fibre  of  the 
national  feeling  vibrated  with  excitement.  It  seemed 
almost  as  if  all  the  gains  that  the  papal  Church  had  hith- 
erto made  had  become  jeopardised. 

Everywhere  there  were  meetings,  loyal  addresses  were 
adopted,  and  impetuous  demands  made  for  interference  by 
the  government.  All  non-Tractarian  pulpits  thundered  against 
the  Roman  antichrist  and  the  false  prophets  in  their  own 
Church.  These  sermons  were  loudly  re-echoed  by  the  press. 
It  was  a  harmless  but  significant  act  of  vengeance,  that  on  the 
commemoration  day  of  the  gunpowder  plot  Guy  Fawkes  pro- 
cessions on  a  magnificent  scale  and  attended  by  a  general 
concourse  of  people  paraded  the  capital.  At  the  conclusion 
of  the  celebration  the  pope,  Wiseman,  and  Pusey  were  burned 
in  effigy. 

Even  the  ministry  was  drawn  into  the  popular  move- 
ment.     By  a  curious  coincidence  Lord  John  Russell,  the 


3 1 4  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centtiry 

principal  author  of  Catholic  emancipation,  stood  at  its 
head.  The  action  of  the  pope  was  a  bitter  requital  for 
the  trustfulness  of  those  English  statesmen  who  had 
omitted  to  take  the  necessary  precautionary  measures 
against  papal  aggression  when  emancipation  was  carried 
through  in  obedience  to  the  just  demands  which  the 
spirit  of  the  times  made.  They  had  meekly  accepted 
the  policy  of  the  Curia  with  regard  to  Ireland.  And 
after  the  Curia  had  been  suffered  to  set  up  in  Ireland, 
against  the  bishops  of  the  state  Church,  its  opposition 
bishops  with  the  same  titles,  a  like  measure  could  not  be 
prevented  in  England.  What  did  it  avail  that  the  prime 
minister  wrote  a  letter  to  the  bishop  of  Durham  (No- 
vember 4,  1850),  in  which  he  spoke  with  indignation  of 
papal  pretensions  and  promised  decided  counter-meas- 
ures ?  The  bishops  of  the  state  Church  might  unanim- 
ously re-echo  his  sentiments, — that  did  not  put  their 
rivals  out  of  the  way.  What  real  advantage  was  gained 
by  the  ecclesiastical  titles  bill,  which  was  introduced  by 
the  ministry  in  February,  185 1,  and  accepted  by  Parlia- 
ment ?  It  forbade  the  Roman  bishops  the  public  use  of 
their  titles,  assumed  from  the  cities  of  England,  and  it 
prohibited  the  wearing  in  public  of  their  costumes  by 
clergy  and  monks.  But  even  this  prohibition  remained 
a  dead  letter.  And  what  finally  came  of  the  state  over- 
sight of  the  monasteries  which  was  now  made  law  ?  It 
remained  disregarded,  like  the  numerous  older  laws  that 
have  never  been  repealed,  which  have  as  much  validity  as 
ever,  but  "  exist  only  not  to  be  applied."  Too  fre- 
quently has,  since  then,  this  pernicious  form  of  speech 
been  used  in  Parliament,  when  motions  have  been  made 
for  the  enforcement  of  the  prohibition  of  the  Jesuits  and 
for  the  investigation  of  abuses  in  the  monasteries.  These 
motions  have  always  been  rejected  with  derision. 

While  thus  legal  measures  proved  as  fruitless  as  the 
popular  excitement  that  preceded  them,  the  papal  cohort 


Xhe  New  Papal  Hierarchy  171  Bngla7id     3 1 5 

was  all  the  more  energetic  in  carrying  out  the  programme 
which  had  long  been  secretly  prepared.  The  policy  of 
the  Curia  officially  permits  dissimulation  temporis  ratione 
Jiabita,  until  the  favourable  moment  has  arrived  for  the 
practical  enforcement  of  theoretical  claims.  So  long  as 
the  "anti-papal  aggression"  lasted,  the  act  by  which 
the  rights  of  the  English  bishops  had  been  usurped  was 
defended  as  a  self-understood  consequence  of  freedom  of 
worship.  But  this  tone  was  afterwards  changed,  and  the 
address  to  the  English  people,  which  Wiseman  issued  at 
the  time,  is  to-day  as  antiquated  as  the  declaration 
of  the  Irish  bishops  in  1826  to  the  effect  that  the  Church 
of  Rome  does  not  teach  the  infallibility  of  the  pope. 
Indeed,  they  understood  admirably  at  the  time  how  to 
represent  themselves  as  the  lamb  whose  water  the  wolf 
had  muddied.  Even  the  most  zealous  of  the  converts, 
such  as  Spencer,  Northcote,  and  Lady  Fullerton,  in  their 
popular  writings,  assumed  the  air  of  innocent  lambs. 

Wiseman's  successor,  immediately  after  his  nomina- 
tion, spoke  in  a  very  different  tone.  We  have  already 
noticed  his  prognostication  of  the  future  of  the  state 
(page  295).  The  assurances  which  it  was  customary  to 
give  before  the  Vatican  Council  are  to-day  no  longer 
considered  necessary.  The  Roman  Church  in  England 
now  counts  its  resources  with  pride.  The  strata  of  the 
populace  which  she  controls  are  as  good  as  hermetically 
sealed  from  the  rest  of  the  population.  They  have  their 
own  historians:  Cobbett,  Lingard,  MacCarthy;  their  own 
novels,  their  own  collections  of  poems  and  poets,  their 
own  newspapers  and  periodicals,  their  own  tract-societies. 
A  number  of  orders  of  monks  and  nuns  have  spread 
themselves  over  all  parts  of  the  country.  The  educa- 
tional institutions  of  St.  Edmond  and  St.  Cuthbert  have 
been  founded  upon  the  model  of  those  of  St.  Omer  and 
Douai  in  France.  The  privileges  of  a  university  have 
been  extended  to  Stonyhurst.     Since  1874  there  has  been 


3 1 6  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

established  a  special  "  free"  university  in  Kensington. 
The  number  of  Roman  Catholic  pupils  was  calculated 
some  years  ago  to  be  I40,0CX),  distributed  among  1400 
private  schools,  which  are  under  strict  confessional  man- 
agement. The  teachers  are  trained  in  their  own  semin- 
aries. Every  year  new  minsters  and  cathedrals  are  built. 
In  the  one  year  1878  there  were  erected  in  the  single 
diocese  of  Liverpool  nine  magnificent  churches;  nine 
more  were  in  the  process  of  construction.  The  Jesuits, 
driven  out  of  Germany,  had  the  choice  of  a  number  of 
asylums  and  endowments,  which  were  simultaneously 
offered  them.  Of  the  other  orders  also,  which  left  Ger- 
many on  account  of  the  Kulturkampf,  Great  Britain 
received  a  fair  share. 

The  complete  change  of  conditions,  however,  since  the 
"  restoration  of  the  Catholic  episcopate  "  in  England 
was  nowhere  more  strikingly  shown  than  by  what  hap- 
pened when  Leo  XIIL — in  his  first  consistory,  March, 
1878  —  applied  the  same  measure  to  Scotland.  It  was 
accepted  quite  as  a  matter  of  course ;  it  received  hardly 
any  attention.  The  Scotch  Act  of  Union  of  1707  had 
expressly  provided  for  the  unconditional  perpetual  exclu- 
sion of  every  kind  of  Roman  Catholic  hierarchy  from 
Scotland.  Now  the  peace-pope  set  up  with  one  stroke 
two  archbishoprics  and  three  bishoprics.  And  the/«?V 
accompli  was  calmly  accepted.  The  Propaganda  had 
been  so  successful  among  this  most  Calvinistic  of  all 
people  that  the  German  historian  Alzog  could  boastfully 
say:  "  Open  conferences  were  held  in  the  Scotch  cities, 
and  the  misrepresentations  of  the  Protestant  ministers 
had  only  the  effect  of  making  non-Catholics  desirous  of 
learning  the  principles  of  the  reviled  faith."  Scotland 
has  its  papal  periodicals  and  newspapers  of  all  kinds  as 
well  as  its  higher  and  lower  schools. 

The  history  of  the  English  Parliament  in  our  own  time 
brings  before  our  eyes  the  increasing  influence  of  the 


The  Neiu  Papal  Hierarchy  in  Englaiid     317 

Ultramontane  party  upon  the  parliamentary  proceedings. 
The  British  party  of  the  Centre,  like  the  German,  has 
understood  admirably  how  to  maintain  the  balance  of 
power  and  to  make  Whigs  and  Tories  outdo  each  other 
in  the  price  paid  for  their  votes.  Even  the  social  move- 
ment is  taken  advantage  of,  as  is  the  case  in  Germany. 
The  writings  of  Lord  Montague  rival  those  of  Bishop  Ket- 
teler  of  Mayence  in  all  the  arts  of  the  social  demagogue. 
MacCarthy's  History  of  England  makes  very  clear  the 
kind  of  future  "  loyal  Catholic  subjects"  have  planned 
for  the  British  empire,  and  it  was  hardly  necessary  to 
emphasise  the  teaching  by  the  dynamite  propaganda  of 
O' Donovan  Rossa. 

These  last  names  have  carried  us  over  from  England  to 
the  smaller  neighbouring  island.  We  shall  now  have  to 
examine  more  closely  into  the  consequences  of  Catholic 
emancipation  as  it  affected  Ireland.  The  result  of  the 
Irish  insurrections  of  the  last  years  of  the  eighteenth  cent- 
ury was  to  intensify  the  opposition  between  the  two  hos- 
tile races  as  well  as  the  bitter  feeling  against  the  English 
Church  on  the  part  of  the  Roman  clergy,  who  were  espec- 
ially involved  in  the  insurrections.  This  state  of  things 
in  Ireland  co-operated  to  bring  about  Catholic  emancipa- 
tion. It  was  seen  to  be  a  social  necessity.  And  the  fur- 
ther history  of  Ireland  is  in  fact  nothing  but  a  series  of 
efforts  to  heal  abuses  transmitted  from  former  generations. 

It  is,  however,  a  characteristic  of  Irish  history,  and 
one  which  has  to  be  realised  in  order  to  understand  the 
course  of  affairs,  that  every  concession  has  been  answered 
by  a  new  rebellion.  And  there  has  been  no  rebellion 
where  the  Church  did  not  have  her  hand  in  the  game. 
The  Irish  clergy  is  more  uneducated  than  in  other 
countries  ruled  by  the  Vatican,  but  for  that  very  reason 
is  closely  bound  up  with  the  people.  A  detailed  descrip- 
tion recently  given  of  land  and  people  (by  E.  Goegg) 


3 1 8  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

characterises  the  Irishman  as  "  strictly  orthodox,"  and 
adds:  "  Everywhere  one  meets  at  the  crossroads  wooden 
and  stone  crucifixes,  and  even  in  the  poorest  parts  are 
many  and  imposing  churches.  Priests  there  are  in  super- 
abundance. Every  CathoHc  Irishman  humbly  uncovers 
his  head  to  every  priest.    The  women  salute  by  kneeling." 

The  effect  of  the  Emancipation  Act  (1829)  was  only  to 
increase  the  excitement  in  Ireland.  It  seemed  as  if  the 
Irish  clergy  were  bent  upon  justifying  the  dark  forebod- 
ings of  the  opponents  of  the  bill :  a  measure  which  justice 
demanded,  but  which  overthrew  the  legal  basis  of  the 
state  as  it  had  hitherto  existed.  Very  soon  after,  in 
1 83 1,  a  large  number  of  agrarian  murders  were  com- 
mitted. The  new  demand,  which  these  murders  were 
intended  to  emphasise,  and  which  was  raised  especially 
by  the  Roman  priests,  was  the  abolition  of  tithes  paid  to 
the  Church  of  England.  The  Russell  ministry  at  once 
obediently  made  the  motion  in  Parliament  to  remit  the 
tithes  to  leaseholders  and  to  substitute  for  them  an 
annual  ground-rent  to  be  paid  by  the  owners.  This 
motion  passed  the  House  of  Commons,  but  was  re- 
peatedly rejected  by  the  Upper  House.  The  parlia- 
mentary conflict  lasted  from  1833  to  1838,  until  at  last 
the  Upper  House  yielded,  as  it  had  done  in  the  question 
of  emancipation.  Even  that  part  of  the  tithes  which 
was  to  remain  was  allotted  to  a  fund  for  popular  edu- 
cation among  Catholics. 

At  the  same  time  the  government  applied  itself  seriously 
to  remedy  the  bad  condition  of  the  public  health.  Father 
Mathew's  famous  temperance  movement,  which  began 
in  1840,  received  extensive  aid  from  England.  But 
hardly  had  it  begun  when  O'Connell's  Repeal  agitation, 
the  demand  for  complete  separation  of  Ireland  from 
England,  diverted  popular  attention  from  the  temper- 
ance movement.  His  treasonable  agitation  (represented 
by  the  papal  press  of  all  countries  as  a  battle   for  the 


The  New  Papal  Hierarchy  in  England     319 

faith)  remained  long  unpunished.  At  last  he  was  con- 
demned by  a  Dublin  jury  in  1844.  But  the  influence 
he  exerted  from  prison  was  all  the  greater.  And  his 
death  in  1847  gave  to  the  Irish  people  another  national 
saint. 

The  agitation  begun  by  O'Connell  was  carried  on  with- 
out intermission  through  the  next  ten  or  twenty  years. 
And,  all  through  it,  sectarian  fanaticism  made  itself 
prominent.  The  cynical  brutality  which  marked  the 
proceedings  even  of  the  highest  prelates  appears  in  other 
countries  almost  incredible.  When  on  the  5th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1855,  the  Redemptorists  made  a  bonfire  of  Bibles, 
the  archbishop  primate  praised  the  deed  as  a  laudable 
imitation  of  the  occurrence  at  Ephesus  (Acts  xix.,  19). 

The  extensive  emigration  of  the  Irish  to  America, 
which,  it  was  thought,  might  have  proved  a  remedy  for 
the  overpopulation  of  the  island  and  the  evils  consequent 
upon  it,  only  made  the  condition  of  affairs  worse.  From 
his  new  home  across  the  sea,  where  the  Irish  voters, 
under  the  discipline  of  the  clergy,  have  exerted  an  im- 
mense influence,  where  the  government  of  the  state  of 
New  York  has  come  entirely  under  the  control  of  the 
Jesuits,  young  Erin  has  not  only  sought  in  every  way  to 
disturb  the  friendly  relations  between  the  Union  and  the 
British  empire,  but  has  taken  an  active  part  in  every 
insurrection  in  the  old  country. 

After  an  endless  series  of  murders  and  street-fights  (as, 
e.  g.,  in  1865,  in  Belfast),  the  conspiracy  of  the  Fenians 
began  in  1866  to  spread  nearly  over  the  whole  island. 
The  higher  clergy  now  changed  their  attitude  and  placed 
themselves  officially  on  the  side  of  the  state.  What  the 
lower  clergy  did  in  the  confessional  is  beyond  the  know- 
ledge of  the  historian.  As  a  reward  for  the  loyalty  of  the 
prelates  the  general  oath  of  allegiance  was  modified,  and 
by  this  modification  all  restrictions  upon  the  mental  re- 
servation characteristic  of  the  papal  system  were  removed 


320  The  Papacy  171  the  igth  Century 

(1866).  In  the  following  year,  in  a  Catholic  convention 
at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  "  the  present  aspect  of  the  movement 
towards  Catholicism  in  the  English  high  Church  "  was 
represented  as  more  hopeful  than  ever. 

We  find  in  the  seventies,  even  more  than  during  the 
preceding  years,  the  same  alternation  of  assassinations 
and  concessions.  The  Clerkenwell  explosion  '  and  the 
disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Church  (January  i,  1871), 
the  establishment  of  the  Land-League  (1879)  ^^<^  the 
reduction,  by  law,  of  rents,  the  so-called  Kilmainham 
treaty  with  Parnell  and  the  atrocious  murder  of  the  vice- 
roy Cavendish  and  secretary  Burke  (1882) — these  stand 
in  the  closest  mutual  relations  the  one  to  the  other.  The 
detailed  account  of  the  renewed  agitations  and  assassina- 
tions which  followed  upon  each  new  concession  is  a  part 
of  political  history.  It  is,  however,  a  matter  of  interest 
to  the  ecclesiastical  historian  that  the  offer  of  ;^20,ooo  as 
a  reward  for  the  discovery  of  the  murderer  of  the  viceroy 
proved  futile,  but  that  the  crown-witness  Carey  was  im- 
mediately found  after  the  higher  clergy  had  intimated 
that  it  was  permissible  to  "  open  the  mouth  "  of  those 
murderers  who  desired  to  add  immunity  from  the  state 
to  the  absolution  of  the  Church. 

That  in  the  Irish  revolutionary  movement  there  exist 
rivalries  among  the  various  parties  is  beyond  a  doubt. 
But,  precisely  as  in  the  case  of  Russian  nihilism,  the 
milder  factions  serve  only  to  cover  the  backs  of  the 
"  men  of  action."  The  murder  of  the  viceroy  has  since 
been  outdone  by  the  dynamite  explosions  in  the  London 

'  December,  1867.  The  explosion  at  the  Clerkenwell  House  of  Deten- 
tion was  intended  to  release  the  Fenians,  Burke  and  Casey.  "  Six  persons 
were  killed  outright ;  six  more  died  from  its  effects,  according  to  the  cor- 
oner's inquests  ;  five,  in  addition,  owed  their  deaths  indirectly  to  this  means  ; 
one  young  woman  is  in  a  mad-house  ;  forty  mothers  were  prematurely  con- 
fined, and  twenty  of  the  babes  died  from  the  effects  of  the  explosion  on  the 
women;  others  of  the  children  are  dwarfed  and  unhealthy,"  etc. —  The 
Times,  April  29,  1868. 


TJie  New  Papal  Hierarchy  271  England     321 

ministry  and  in  the  office  of  The  Times.  These  deeds 
were  vociferously  applauded  by  the  Irish  in  America 
through  their  spokesmen,  and  greater  acts  of  heroism 
were  promised ;  while  at  the  same  time  Egan,  the  treas- 
urer of  the  Land-League,  found  it  prudent  to  withdraw 
to  America.  It  shows  how  close  was  the  connection 
between  Ireland  and  America,  in  that  both  the  Land- 
League  and  the  "  Invincibles,"  who  butchered  the  un- 
armed viceroy,  found  their  model  in  the  Irish-American 
secret  society  of  the  Molly  Maguires,  whose  statutes 
were  not  long  after  this  revealed  by  detective  MacParlan, 
who  had  become  a  member  of  the  society. 

The  public  programme  of  the  Molly  Maguires  was 
"  Christian  Charity  and  Philanthropy."  The  conditions 
of  admission  were  Irish  descent  and  the  Catholic  religion. 
The  supreme  control  of  this  association,  whose  proper 
field  of  activity  was  America,  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Board  of  Erin  in  Ireland.  This  board  gave  the  watch- 
words, the  grips,  and  the  toasts.  The  secret  language 
of  the  society,  taken  mostly  from  commercial  life,  is 
remarkably  similar  to  that  of  the  Frisian  Jesuits,  as  it  was 
made  known  in  the  year  1616  through  the  confiscated 
papers  of  Father  Warighem,  and  published  in  the  official 
pamphlet  (now  rare),  Der  Jezuyten  Negotiatie  ofte  Koop- 
handcl.  Most  of  the  members  of  the  Molly  Maguires  are 
not  informed  of  the  plans  of  their  superiors,  as  is  the  case 
with  the  lower  degrees  in  the  Jesuit  order.  But  while 
they  suppose  themselves  to  belong  to  a  philanthropic 
association,  a  secret  lodge  is  in  the  background. 

Like  the  "  German  Catholic  associations,"  they  en- 
deavoured to  influence  public  elections  and  to  bring  both 
political  positions  of  honour  and  civil  administrative 
offices  into  the  hands  of  "  believers."  That  in  so  doing 
they  did  not  stop  short  of  violence,  murder,  and  arson  is 
proved  by  the  reign  of  terror  vv^hich  for  a  number  of  years 
existed  under  the  secret  rule  of  this  association  in  several 


322  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

states  of  the  Union.  In  the  judicial  investigation  which 
was  brought  about  through  the  devotion  of  MacParlan, 
there  were  revealed  not  only  the  watchwords,  which 
were  mostly  of  a  political  or  sectarian  character,  but  also 
the  methods  by  which  the  murderers  and  incendiaries 
had  hitherto  escaped  the  arm  of  the  law.  This  was  done 
by  choosing,  for  the  execution  of  the  crimes,  men  who 
were  unknown  in  the  respective  neighbourhoods.  Other 
conspirators  then  swore  to  an  alibi.  The  ample  means 
of  the  secret  association  permitted  the  engagement  of  the 
best  legal  talent  in  behalf  of  the  accused.  And  absolu- 
tion for  sins  committed  was  assured  where  the  "Catholic 
religion  "  was  a  condition  of  admission  to  the  society. 

These  methods  passed  from  the  Molly  Maguires  in 
America  to  the  "  Invincibles  "  in  England.  The  English 
prime  minister  was  called  upon  to  face  the  situation 
brought  about  by  the  activity  of  the  latter.  And,  just 
as  fear  of  the  nihilists  brought  about  the  "  peace  "  be- 
tween Russia  and  Leo  XIII.,  so  Gladstone  now  found 
that  the  Curia  alone  was  able  to  discipline  its  faithful 
sheep.  This  is  the  background  of  the  much-talked-of 
Errington  mission,  with  which  the  English  ministry,  in 
the  spring  of  1883,  played  such  a  mysterious  game. 

The  member  of  Parliament  for  Longford,  "  a  Catholic 
faithful  to  his  convictions,"  was  not  ofificially  accredited 
to  the  pope,  either  by  the  queen  or  by  the  ministry. 
The  official  disclaimers  are  right  in  denying  this.  But 
this  did  not  prevent  Errington  from  serving  as  "  love- 
messenger  "  between  the  ministry  and  the  Curia  as  early 
as  the  winter  of  1880  to  1881.  The  result  of  this  mission 
was  a  papal  brief  to  the  twenty-six  Irish  bishops,  forbid- 
ding their  participation  in  agitations  which,  according  to 
all  appearances,  led  to  murder  and  arson  and  other  in- 
human atrocities.  The  bishops  remonstrated,  and  there 
followed    another    brief,    in    which    the    prohibition    of 


The  New  Papal  Hierarchy  in  England     323 

participation  in  the  secret  meetings  of  the  Land-Leaguers 
was  rescinded.  Thereupon  Errington  again  went  to 
Rome  ;  and  Leo  XIIL  wrote  another  letter  to  the 
bishops,  in  which  he  sought  to  unite  the  two  factions 
among  the  latter  (the  one  led  by  Archbishop  MacCabe  of 
Dublin,  the  other  by  Archbishop  Croke  of  Cashel).  At 
about  this  time  the  notorious  Carey  became  crown  wit- 
ness and  began  his  revelations  of  the  secrets  of  the  gangs 
of  assassins.  Carey  (as  was  ofificially  stated  at  the  trial) 
had  belonged  to  a  "  Catholic  society  "  whose  members 
took  communion  once  a  month. 

Errington  brought  back  to  England,  in  November,. 
1882,  an  autograph  letter  to  the  queen,  in  which  the 
pope  expressed  his  gratitude  for  the  interest  manifested 
by  their  sovereign  in  the  Catholics  of  the  British  empire. 
The  Vatican  press  at  the  same  time  expressed  the  hope 
that,  after  Germany  had  set  the  example  and  Russia  had 
followed,  England  herself  would  soon  send  an  official 
representative  to  the  Vatican.  This,  however,  excited 
the  violent  opposition  of  the  English  press,  which  re- 
called the  papal  encyclical  of  December  28,  1878,  against 
the  Reformation.  Errington  meanwhile  remained  the 
semi-ofificial  representative  of  the  ministry  and  secret 
delegate  of  the  state.  A  Catholic  scholar  describes  the 
cause  of  his  mission  as  follows:  "  Since  infallibility  in 
moral  affairs  (to  which  surely  belong  murder  and  arson) 
and  the  unconditional  supremacy  of  the  pope  in  all 
dioceses  is  an  article  of  faith  for  all  Roman  Catholics, 
Gladstone  wants  to  draw  some  profit  from  it." 

Since  then  the  Irish  "  martyrs  "  have  been  placed  in 
a  corner  by  the  Curia,  just  as  was  once  done  with  the 
Polish.  When  Archbishop  Croke  made  a  contribution  to 
the  Parnell  fund.  Cardinal  Simeoni  issued  a  letter  (May 
II,  1883),  which  forbade  the  agitation  for  this  fund  on 
the  part  of  the  clergy.  Rome  considered  itself  the  more 
called  upon  to  take  this  step  that  Parnell  had  exchanged 


324  The  Papacy  171  the  igth  Century 

courtesies  with  the  infidel  French  radicals.  Croke  him- 
self was  called  to  Rome,  as  was  said,  ad  audieridiun  verbmn 
papcB.  But,  according  to  his  own  statement,  he  did  not 
by  any  means  fare  ill  in  Rome,  and  the  agitation  in  be- 
half of  the  Parnell  fund  only  increased  after  the  Simeoni 
letter.  In  the  beginning  of  July,  1883,  the  Irish  bishops 
went  so  far  as  to  issue  a  joint  address  to  the  British 
government,  in  which  they  prescribed  further  agrarian 
measures. 

How  close  was  the  connection  between  the"  shepherds 
of  souls  "  and  the  "  martyrs  "  has  been  more  and  more 
strikingly  shown  by  every  new  trial.  Carey  was  mem- 
ber both  of  a  religious  and  a  revolutionary  association. 
Mullagh's  diary  began  by  stating  that  he  received  the 
communion  on  the  first  of  January,  1882,  and  immedi- 
ately afterwards  was  admitted  into  the  league  of  con- 
spirators. Whitehead,  the  manufacturer  of  dynamite  in 
Birmingham,  stood  in  close  relations  with  several  priests. 
When  treasurer  Egan  fled  to  escape  arrest,  he  had  just 
before  been  visited  by  a  priest,  in  whose  clothes  he 
escaped.  The  mystical  Number  One  (Tynan)  proved  to 
be  a  pupil  of  a  religious  order. 

In  all  this  there  was  nothing  new:  the  Ravaillacs  and 
Balthasar  Gerards  have  at  all  times  had  numerous  prede- 
cessors and  successors,  and  Syllabus  and  Vatican  Council 
have  publicly  re-inaugurated  the  Hildebrandian  policy. 
Only  one  thing  was  new ;  and  that  was,  that  after  all 
such  experiences  proud  Albion  should  fly  to  the  pope  as 
the  protector  against  revolution. 

The  history  of  the  country  has  sufificiently  proved  that 
renewed  concessions  to  the  Curia  do  not  further  the  wel- 
fare of  the  Irish  people  any  more  than  they  do  that  of 
any  other  country.  We  notice,  however,  since  the  be- 
ginning of  the  dynamite  era,  a  gradual  revulsion  of  public 
opinion  in  regard  to  Irish  matters.     Until  that  time,  the 


The  New  Papal  Hierarchy  in  E7igla7id     325 

Irish,  like  the  Poles,  were  the  favourites  of  that  senti- 
mental liberalism  which  judges  after  the  outward  appear- 
ance. At  present  we  find  that  not  only  have  men  in 
England  and  Scotland  come  to  the  conclusion  that  affairs 
cannot  go  on  in  the  way  they  have  been  going,  but  in 
America  also  the  customary  coquetting  with  the  Irish 
element  has  received  a  serious  set-back. 

It  is  even  more  significant  as  a  sign  of  the  times,  that 
those  organs  of  the  German  press  which  had  been  used 
to  look  upon  Poles  and  Irishmen  as  their  ideals  begin  to 
subject  the  Irish  conception  of  liberty  and  its  results  to  a 
searching  criticism.  This  was  first  done  in  connection 
with  Bradlaugh's  refusal  of  the  parliamentary  oath.  The 
government,  to  put  a  stop  to  endless  troubles,  brought 
in  a  bill  providing  for  a  liberal  parliamentary  oath,  where- 
upon the  home-ruler  M'Callan  made  an  opposition  mo- 
tion. This  called  forth  from  a  liberal  authority  the 
following  judgment  upon  the  Irish  idea  of  liberty:  "  The 
League,  the  Fenians,  all  the  numerous  open  and  secret 
associations  of  discontented  Irishmen  call  for  freedom. 
But  the  freethinker  is  to  be  denied  the  right  in  place  of 
the  oath  to  make  a  simple  affirmation." 

This  contradiction  of  principles,  as  the  same  author 
proceeds  to  say,  is  not  without  reason.  For,  not  only 
have  the  liberty-loving  Irish  in  large  numbers  borne  arms 
against  the  liberty  of  Italy  and  Germany;  the  spirit  of 
religious  persecution  has  always  dictated  their  sympathies 
and  antipathies.  "  Nationality,  self-government,  liberty 
— all  these  lofty  words  form  with  leaguers,  home-rulers, 
Fenians,  and  Invincibles  only  a  covering  for  dark  in- 
trigues, just  as  was  the  case  with  the  Swiss  Sonderbund." 
Hence,  in  MacCarthy's  History  of  Our  Oivn  Thnes,  the 
malicious  attacks  upon  Garibaldi.  Hence  the  charge 
which  O'Shea,  the  negotiator  of  the  Kilmainham  treaty, 
makes  against  minister  Forster  as  the  friend  of  Mazzini. 
Hence,  in  the  Freeman  s  Journal,  the  characterisation  of 


326 


The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Centtiry 


the  Italian  liberators  as  a  band  of  intriguers  and  hirelings, 
of  Victor  Emanuel  as  a  puppet  of  the  revolution,  and 
Cavour's  and  Ricasoli's  deaths  ascribed  to  the  interposi- 
tion of  God. 

It  is  in  view  of  such  facts  as  these  that  the  question 
has  been  asked  "  whether  England  has  not  a  mission  of 
civilisation  to  perform  towards  Ireland."  The  success  of 
this  mission,  we  may  say,  depends  in  the  last  instance, 
upon  how  far  Vaticanism  is  able  to  extend  its  sway  over 
the  life  of  the  people  in  England.  It  has  already  reached 
alarming  proportions.  For  under  the  regimen  of  the 
converts,  all  the  modern  Jesuit  cults,  the  fraternities  of 
the  scapulary  and  the  rosary,  devotions  of  the  Sacred 
Heart,  and  Madonna  visions  have  been  greatly  extended ; 
and  the  belief  in  evil  spirits  is  brought  forward  with  an 
unreservedness  which  may  be  fitly  characterised  as  the 
most  significant  sign  of  the  times. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

AMERICAN   CATHOLICISM   AND   THE   ROMAN   CHURCH   IN 
THE   NORTH   AMERICAN    UNION 


OUR  attention  has  already  been  called,  in  the  general 
survey  of  ecclesiastical  conditions  at  the  time  of 
the  Restoration,  to  the  remarkable  difference  between  the 
state  of  afTairs  in  Europe  and  in  America.  In  Europe 
we  find  reaction  following  upon  the  heels  of  the  Revolu- 
tion ;  when  we  pass  over  to  America  we  enter  the  modern 
world  of  ideas,  the  new  world  which  dates  from  the  Eng- 
lish double  reformation.  Upon  the  virgin  soil  of  the 
American  free  states  it  was  possible  for  modern  Protest- 
antism, in  the  turbulent  years  of  the  Revolution,  freely  to 
develop  the  various  individualities  of  its  ecclesiastical 
systems.  But  here,  too — and  likewise  immediately  after 
the  successful  issue  of  the  struggle  for  liberty — the  ideal 
of  Catholicism  in  its  anti-papal  form,  supplementing 
Protestant  individualism,  struck  its  roots  deep  into  the 
soil.  From  small  beginnings  the  American  Episcopal 
Church,  which  was  the  first  to  restore  this  idea  to  its 
rights  in  the  Protestant  world,  has  raised  itself  to  a  posi- 
tion of  moral  power,  which  has  enabled  it  to  oppose  a 
true  Catholicity  to  the  false  Catholicity  of  the  Papacy, 
and  to  be  the  means  of  a  higher  unity  to  the  diverging 
Protestant  bodies. 

Every  ecclesiastical  gift  and  prerogative  has  its  own 
advantage,  but  has  also  its  own  peculiar  danger,  and  the 

327 


328  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

Episcopal  Church  of  Great  Britain  was  no  exception  to 
the  rule.  The  high  value  which  this  Church  laid  upon  the 
apostolical  succession  (through  Rome)  of  its  episcopate 
was  the  most  important  factor  in  the  recent  numerous 
secessions  to  Rome.  It  called  forth  sharp  criticism  even 
from  so  warm  an  admirer  of  the  Anglican  ecclesiastical 
system  as  Bunsen,  to  whom  it  represented  a  distortion  of 
the  true  ideal.  But  of  much  greater  moment  is  the  op- 
position which  it  excites  among  German  Protestants 
whenever  the  idea  of  restoring  the  episcopal  system  is  re- 
newed. Bunsen  himself  was  made  to  feel  this  opposition 
in  all  its  force  at  the  institution  of  the  English-Prussian 
bishopric  of  Jerusalem  (1841). 

The  most  illustrious  representatives  of  German  Protest- 
antism have  been  and  are  the  most  decided  opponents  of 
the  episcopal  system.  And  after  the  moral  suicide  of  the 
papal  bishops  at  the  Vatican  Council  only  one  thing  more 
was  needed  to  check  any  desire  for  the  restoration  of  the 
episcopate  among  German  Protestants,  and  that  was  the 
fact  that  those  nominal  Protestants,  who  were  responsible 
for  the  serious  defeat  of  the  state  in  its  conflict  with  the 
Roman  Curia,  should  show  their  liking  for  an  episcopal 
hierarchy.  But  however  strongly  the  peculiar  line  of  de- 
velopment that  German  Protestantism  has  taken  for 
more  than  three  hundred  years  may  emphasise  the  duty 
of  preserving  historical  continuity  and  of  avoiding  the 
imitation  of  any  foreign  fashion,  this  condition  of  affairs 
need  not  oblige  us  to  form  an  unfavourable  judgment 
upon  the  episcopal  system  as  such. 

No  one  who  has  studied  the  sources  of  ancient  Church 
history  needs  to  be  told  that  there  could  be  hardly  any 
greater  contrast  than  that  between  what  the  old-Catholic 
conception  of  the  Church  as  it  was  held  by  Ignatius, 
Irenaeus,  and  Cyprian,  involved  touching  the  equality  of 
bishops  chosen  by  the  congregations,  and  the  universal 
episcopate  of  the  pseudo-Isidorean  papal  system.     We 


American  Catholicism  329 

may  also  assume  that  all  who  are  familiar  with  the  history 
of  the  Reformation  agree  upon  no  other  point  with  the 
same  unanimity  as  upon  this,  that  Luther's  break  with 
the  episcopate,  which  Melanchthon  had  sought  by  every 
means  to  prevent,  was  the  one  fatality  which  befell  the 
young  German  churches  and  the  principal  cause  of  the 
ignominious  Byzantinism  to  which  they  too  soon  fell  a 
prey. 

The  latest  researches  concerning  the  elector  palatine, 
Frederick  the  Wise,  have  pointed  out  again  how  great  a 
calamity  for  the  German  people,  passing  through  the 
most  violent  convulsions  of  its  history,  was  the  premature 
death  of  this  high-minded  prince  (1525).  As  long  as  his 
guiding  hand  restrained  the  impetuosity  of  Luther,  the 
break  with  the  elements  which  were  friendly  to  reform 
in  the  German  episcopate  was  avoided.  Left  to  himself 
and  even  treated  by  the  princes  as  a  superior  authority, 
Luther's  volcanic  nature  lost  the  power  of  self-control 
and  of  moderation.  From  this  time  on  we  trace  the  de- 
pendence of  princes  and  statesmen  upon  the  political 
counsels  of  the  theologians,  with  their  increasingly  dan- 
gerous direct  and  indirect  consequences,  until  finally 
there  came  the  equally  ominous  recoil  to  the  opposite 
extreme :  disgust  among  the  leading  classes  with  all 
theology.  From  this  time,  on  the  other  hand,  began 
the  suppression  of  episcopal  privileges,  which  till  then 
had  theoretically  at  least  been  conserved,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  inauguration  of  a  caesaro-papism  among 
the  petty  princes,  who  indemnified  themselves  for  the 
loss  of  political  influence  by  making  the  Church  into  a 
department  of  police. 

A  clearer  appreciation,  therefore,  of  the  injury  inflicted 
upon  the  German  Church  by  the  loss  of  the  episcopate 
makes  us  understand  much  more  fully  why  not  only  the 
English,  but  also  the  Danish  and  the  Swedish  Reformed 
Churches   recognised   the  preservation  of  the  episcopal 


330  The  Papacy  i7i  the  igth  Ceyitury 

system  as  the  necessary  guarantee  of  the  independence 
of  the  Church,  and  why  even  the  United  Brethren  and 
Methodism  returned  to  it.  But  beyond  all  others  it  was, 
in  Europe,  the  national  Church  of  England  whose  par- 
ticular charisma  seemed  to  be  the  union  of  the  ideal- 
Catholic  and  the  Protestant  principles.  The  most  striking 
proof,  however,  of  what  Episcopalianism  is  capable  of 
accomplishing  is  presented,  not  by  monarchical  Europe, 
but  by  republican  America. 

American  Episcopalianism  is  indeed  nothing  less  than 
a  mere  copy  of  the  English  type.  It  is  a  significant  fact 
that  before  the  American  revolution  the  English  Episco- 
pal Church  in  the  colonies  had  no  bishops.  It  was  a 
peculiarity,  fatal  for  England  herself,  of  her  colonial 
policy,  that  it  maintained  the  ecclesiastical  dependence 
of  Episcopalians,  in  order  thereby  to  strengthen  the 
political  dependence  of  the  colonies.  The  heel  of  Achil- 
les of  Anglicanism,  the  fact  that  the  Church  could  be 
turned  only  too  easily  into  a  tool  of  the  crown  or  of  a 
parliamentary  majority,  was  more  painfully  felt  in  the 
fresher  and  freer  atmosphere  of  New  England  than  in 
the  mother-country.  Nevertheless,  after  the  conclusion 
of  peace  the  adherents  of  the  Episcopal  Church  remained 
true  to  the  Church's  ideal.  But  when  they  demanded  an 
independent  American  bishop,  the  English  bishops  re- 
fused to  consecrate  one.  To  such  an  extent  had  the 
Anglicanism  of  the  time  lost  its  consciousness  of  the 
great  heritage  of  the  English  Reformation  in  the  com- 
bination of  its  Protestant  and  its  Catholic  character. 

It  is  the  merit  of  the  little  Episcopal  Church  of  Scot- 
land to  have  divested  the  ideal-Catholic  heritage  of  the 
English  national  Church  of  its  particularistic  one-sidedness 
and  to  have  made  it  once  more  a  power  for  good  to  the 
whole  Christian  world.  The  Scotch  Church  itself  had 
only  come  into  existence  in  the  year   1661,   under  the 


American  Catholicism  331 

influence  of  the  reaction  against  the  division  into  sects 
which  was  prevalent  in  the  Republican  era,  through  the 
consecration  of  Scotch  bishops  by  the  English ;  and  this 
Church  had,  as  a  true  child  of  the  Restoration,  long  pre- 
served its  sympathies  for  the  Stuarts  against  the  Hano- 
verian dynasty.  This  very  fact,  however,  effected  a 
greater  independence  on  the  part  of  the  Scottish  Church 
than  had  ever  been  enjoyed  up  to  that  time  by  the 
Church  of  England.  And  it  was  a  manifestation  of  this 
independence  when,  after  American  Episcopalians  in  the 
year  1784  had  elected  Samuel  Seabury  bishop,  upon  the 
refusal  of  the  English  bishops  under  the  influence  of 
George  III.,  the  Scotch  Church  conferred  upon  him  their 
consecration. 

Thus  by  its  origin  the  Episcopal  Church  of  America,  in 
equal  measure  Catholic  and  Protestant,  was  led  to  em- 
phasise the  truly  universal,  all-comprehensive  character 
of  Christianity.  At  the  same  time  the  political  constitu- 
tion of  the  American  states  has  given  to  the  religious 
interests  of  the  country  a  much  larger  degree  of  inde- 
pendence and  freedom,  and  this  has  been  greatly  to  the 
advantage  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  This  made  it  pos- 
sible to  create  a  Church  constitution  which  has  united 
the  aristocratic  form  of  the  bishopric  with  the  democratic 
congregational  principle.  The  highest  legislative  author- 
ity of  the  American  Episcopal  Church  (which  for  its  con- 
stitution Bunsen  chose  as  the  type  of  his  "  Church  of  the 
future  ")  consists  in  the  General  Convention,  which  meets 
every  third  year.  This  body,  like  the  English  ecclesias- 
tical Parliament,  is  divided  into  a  House  of  Bishops  and  a 
House  of  Deputies  of  the  dioceses;  but  it  is  not,  as  were 
the  Anglican  convocations  for  so  long  a  period,  a  mere 
empty  form ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  full  of  fresh,  energetic 
life.  The  American  Church  has  applied  its  fundamental 
principles  in  the  manner  of  choosing  bishops,  which  in 
this  Church  cannot  take  place  by  the  authority  of  the 


332  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Ce7iHiry 

crown  or  of  its  ministers.  The  organised  dioceses  them- 
selves, in  their  annual  diocesan  synods,  choose  their 
bishops ;  while  the  General  Convention  acts  for  the  newly 
projected  dioceses.  As  soon  as  the  latter  (the  so-called 
missionary  jurisdictions)  are  able  to  support  themselves, 
they  receive  the  same  rights  as  the  older  dioceses. 

As  men  who  know  how  to  use  their  liberty,  the  official 
representatives  of  the  Church  have  themselves  restricted 
their  sphere  of  liberty,  so  that  in  their  ecclesiastical 
capacity  they  do  not  intrude  in  the  agitations  of  political 
parties.  All  political  parties  are  represented  in  the 
Church,  but  the  latter  serves  no  party.  So  too,  the 
high,  the  low,  and  the  broad  Church  have  equal  rights 
in  theology.  But  everywhere  the  same  prayer-book  is 
used.  A  liturgy  "  understanded  of  the  people"  has 
taken  the  place  of  dogmatic  formularies.  The  old  ec- 
clesiastical confessions  have  retained  their  canonical  and 
theoretical  validity,  but  their  injurious  effect  upon  the 
Church's  life  has  passed  away,  and  there  is  a  happy  ab- 
sence of  trials  for  heresy  such  as  have  disgraced  the 
Church  in  Germany  in  our  own  time. 

Even  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  very  large  in- 
terests of  American  Church  life  in  comparison  with  the 
insignificance  of  the  corresponding  activity  in  Germany 
will  be  filled  with  astonishment  by  a  mere  review  of  the 
special  literature  which  this  Church  has  brought  forth. 
A  comparison  of  the  minutes  of  the  triennial  conventions 
is  of  great  interest.  The  first  Journal  of  a  Convention 
covers  only  a  few  small  sheets.  This  was  the  convention 
that  sat  from  September  27  to  October  7,  1785  (the 
year  of  Seabury's  consecration),  in  Philadelphia,  and 
was  made  up  of  deputies  from  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  South 
Carolina.  Two  conventions  met  in  the  following  year,  the 
one  following  close  upon  the  other:  in  Philadelphia,  June 
20th  to    26th,  and    in    Wilmington,   Delaware,  October 


A7nerica7i  Catholicism  333 

loth  and  nth.  From  the  first  of  these  conventions 
we  have  the  opening  address  of  the  Rev.  William  White 
(shortly  after  chosen  bishop),  whose  strong  faith  and 
hope  of  the  future  show  a  remarkable  parallel  to  the 
character  of  the  national  Congress  during  Washington's 
presidency. 

The  men  who  in  a  free  state  founded  a  really  free 
Church,  in  contrast  to  the  slavery  of  the  Papacy,  had  an 
instinctive  presentiment  of  the  interest  with  which  later 
generations  would  follow  the  beginnings  of  this  work, 
and  a  series  of  important  acts  as  well  as  the  signatures 
under  the  documents  were  in  these  first  years  preserved 
in  autograph.  In  the  year  1789  there  were  again  two 
conventions  held,  both  in  Philadelphia,  the  first  July  28th 
to  August  8th,  the  second  September  29th  to  October 
1 6th.  The  ecclesiastical  organisation  had  now  so  far  pro- 
gressed that  future  conventions  met  in  regular  order  once 
in  three  years,  and  that  ever  after  the  convention  of  1789 
the  members  were  no  longer  spoken  of  as  the  deputies 
from  the  several  states,  and  there  was  no  more  a  Journal 
of  a  Convention,  but  that  now  the  "  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America  "  appears  with 
its  Journal  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Bishops  and  of  the 
Clerical  and  Lay  Deputies.  At  the  convention  held  in 
Trenton  in  1801,  Bishop  White  consecrated  his  newly 
elected  colleague,  Bishop  Moore;  at  the  same  time  the 
Articles  of  Religion  were  adopted  and  published. 

Few  historical  documents  are  so  impressive  to  the  his- 
torian as  the  minutes  of  these  conventions  with  their  con- 
stant increase  in  bulk  and  contents.  Up  to  the  year  1856 
their  size  was  still  so  limited  that  several  years'  issues 
could  be  bound  up  together.  In  the  last  ten  years  (to 
1889)  the  Journals,  with  all  possible  brevity,  present  a 
wealth  of  material  which  in  Germany  is  not  even  approxi- 
mately equalled  by  any  similar  ecclesiastical  publication. 

Whoever  finds  the  study  of  the  convention  journals  too 


334  '^^^^  Papacy  m  the  igth  Century 

tedious  will  find  \n  Perry' s  Manuat,  published  in  1877,  of 
the  conventions  held  up  to  that  time,  an  admirable  guide. 
Another  historical  source  is  the  biographies  of  the  bishops, 
published  by  Butterton  in  1878.  To  the  first  of  these, 
Samuel  Seabury,  a  special  memorial  is  devoted  (1873), 
and  his  son's  lectures,  published  by  his  grandson,  on  The 
Nature  and  Work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  prove  that  his  ability 
has  been  transmitted  in  his  own  family.  The  active 
historical  interest  which  animates  the  leaders  is  proved 
by  the  organisation  of  an  Historical  Association  of  the 
American  Church.  One  of  its  most  valuable  publications 
consists  in  a  large  volume  of  facsimiles  of  ecclesiastical 
documents. 

The  German  members  of  the  Church  have  been  pro- 
vided with  prayer-  and  hymn-book  in  their  own  language. 
A  special  "  Church  German  Society  "  is  devoted  to  the 
religious  needs  of  the  German  congregations.  There 
exist  large  numbers  of  other  societies.  To  the  Anglo- 
Continental  Society,  which  has  extended  the  warmest 
sympathy  to  the  old-Catholic  movement  in  Germany  and 
Switzerland  from  its  first  beginning,  corresponds  the 
Anglo-American  Society.  We  say  nothing  of  the  nu- 
merous year-books,  almanacs,  catechisms,  and  tracts  of 
all  kinds,  in  which  the  American  "  Church"  vies  with 
Methodists,  Baptists,  and  Lutherans. 

In  order,  however,  fully  to  understand  the  importance 
of  the  Episcopal  Church  for  the  entire  development  of 
the  American  commonwealth,  the  historian  must  have 
recourse  to  statistics.  For  here  it  is  not  a  question  of 
meaningless  numbers,  as  in  the  advertisements  in  the 
papal  organs  of  the  200,000,000  who  are  supposed  to  be- 
lieve in  papal  infallibility.  In  the  case  of  American 
Catholicism  we  have  to  do,  if  anywhere,  with  numbers 
that  are  full  of  significance,  which  represent  the  power  of 
an  idea.  Out  of  the  one  diocese  in  1784  there  have  grown 
48  independent  dioceses  (1889).      The  total  number  of 


American  Catholicism  335 

bishops,  including  those  of  the  missionary  jurisdictions, 
is  65.  The  592  clergy  of  the  year  1832  had  become  1052 
in  1841,  1558  in  1850,  2286  in  1862,  3082  in  1877,  and 
in  1889  their  number  is  above  3400. 

Equally  significant  is  the  increase  of  baptisms,  mar- 
riages, and  funerals,  the  only  facts  upon  which  can  be 
based  a  true  calculation  of  the  membership  in  the  various 
religious  denominations  in  America.  In  the  year  1832, 
when  these  statistics  were  first  recorded  in  the  journal  of 
the  convention,  the  number  of  baptisms  of  the  three  pre- 
ceding years  was  23,127.  In  the  three  years  before  1841 
the  number  was  34,465,  in  the  same  space  of  time  before 
1850  there  were  42,925,  before  1862  71,533,  and  before 
1877  129,757.  Only  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America 
shows  a  similarly  rapid  increase. 

The  well-known  advertisements  of  the  papal  press  are 
fully  justified  in  this  one  point,  that  the  papal  Church  of 
to-day  has  been  able  to  amass  the  largest  ecclesiastical 
property.  But  the  statistics  of  the  year  1880  count  alto- 
gether only  6,143,322  Roman  Catholics.  If  only  the 
descendants  of  the  Roman  immigrants  had  remained  true 
to  the  faith,  the  total  number  would  have  been  about 
15,000,000.  One  of  the  organs  of  the  German  papal 
press  has  confessed  that  "  the  total  result  is  not  by  any 
means  so  brilliant  as  the  common  reports  of  the  American 
Church  have  led  us  to  expect,"  and  makes  an  effort  to 
investigate  the  "  cause  of  this  immense  defection  from 
the  Church."  No  stronger  proof  could  be  given  that 
Roman  Catholic  immigrants,  who  feel  the  influence  of 
American  Church  life,  in  time  turn  to  a  Church  which  is 
in  sympathy  with  the  national  life. 

The  Episcopal  Church  in  America  shows  quite  the 
opposite  tendency.  Born  Anglicans  make  up  only  the 
smallest  part  of  its  membership;  for  Anglican  English- 
men form  a  much  smaller  contingent  of  the  total  immigra- 
tion than,  e.  g.,  the  Irish,  because  the  former  in  contrast 


^2,6  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

to  the  latter  represent  the  stable  and  well-to-do  element 
of  the  population  of  the  mother-country.  By  far  the 
largest  increase  therefore  comes  from  former  adherents  of 
other  churches.  Seven  German  clergymen  belong  to  the 
Episcopal  Church  in  New  York ;  they  have  all  come  from 
other  denominations,  most  of  them  from  the  Church  of 
Rome.  And,  although  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  many 
European  immigrants  consider  it  a  part  of  true  liberty 
to  have  nothing  to  do  with  any  church,  and  although 
America  has  developed  a  proselytising  atheism  with  a 
regardless  frankness  such  as  Europe  has  rarely  known, 
nevertheless  the  second  or  certainly  the  third  generation 
is  usually  carried  away  by  the  power  of  religious  impulse 
in  the  land  of  liberty.  As  representing  the  most  strongly 
organised  Church  in  America,  the  Episcopal  Church 
draws  from  all  this  the  greatest  advantage.  As  early  as 
in  Cooper's  time  this  Church  began  to  grow  with  striking 
rapidity ;  to-day  it  must  appear  to  most  European 
Churches  as  a  worthy  model. 

The  special  danger  growing  out  of  the  present  situation 
is  that  the  American  Episcopal  Church  should  become 
in  a  certain  sense  the  Church  of  the  aristocracy ;  and  yet 
the  institutions  founded  for  the  general  good  of  the  pub- 
lic have  a  tendency  to  counteract  this  danger.  The  social 
benevolence  of  the  members  of  this  Church  is,  measured 
even  by  an  American  standard,  extraordinary.  Its  hos- 
pitals, asylums,  and  schools  are  among  the  best  endowed 
and  among  the  best  arranged.  The  Episcopal  Church 
has  taken  up  missions  among  the  Indians  as  its  special 
province.  But  its  activity  extends  in  other  directions. 
In  the  island  of  Haiti  there  has  been  organised  an  Epis- 
copal national  Church;  in  Liberia  the  first  steps  have 
been  taken  with  the  same  object  in  view ;  and  in  Mexico 
there  are  now  three  bishops  active,  who  are  in  communion 
with  the  North  American  Episcopal  Church.  From  here 
their  path  would  seem  to  lead  them  almost  directly  to 


A7ncrican  CatJiolicism  337 

the  South  American  states,  where  the  lamentable  condi- 
tion of  the  Roman  Church  has  long  cried  out  for  a 
remedy,  which  the  one-sidedness  of  purely  Protestant 
forms  of  worship  is  not  able  to  supply. 

Most  significant  of  all  the  hopes  for  the  future  which 
the  American  Episcopal  Church  has  brought  forth  ap- 
pears to  be  the  "  intercommunion  "  of  Catholicism  and 
Protestantism,  which  has  for  the  first  time  been  realised 
by  her  action.  It  is  indeed  a  wonderful  cycle  of  events 
which  has  led  up  to  this  crisis,  and  one  in  which  the 
most  diverse  nations  have  each  rendered  its  own  service 
to  the  cause  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  just  as  happened  in 
the  struggles  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries 
against  the  counter-Reformation.  Transferred  from 
England  to  America  by  way  of  Scotland,  it  has  been 
given  to  the  youngest  of  the  episcopal  churches  to  be 
the  first  to  offer  a  friendly  hand  to  the  inner-Catholic 
movement  for  reform,  whose  seeds  the  Netherlands  pre- 
served through  a  century  and  a  half,  in  order  to  hand 
it  down  first  to  the  German  old-Catholics  and  through 
them  to  their  Swiss  brethren  in  the  faith.  Through  the 
consecration  given  by  the  ancient  Church  of  the  Nether- 
lands, the  German  Bishop  Reinkens  was  enabled,  in  be- 
half of  Germany,  to  enter  once  more  into  the  heritage  of 
the  ancient  Church-ideals,  which  in  no  part  of  Catholicism 
had  wholly  died  out.  He  in  his  turn  transmitted  the 
consecration  to  his  Swiss  colleague,  Herzog.  The  latter, 
at  the  General  Convention  in  the  year  1880,  solemnly 
ratified  the  "  communion  with  the  Anglo-American 
Church,"  which  is  valid  as  well  for  Switzerland  as  for 
America,  and  which  may  form  the  point  of  departure  for 
similar  unions  in  a  wider  sphere  in  the  future. 

This  latter  consideration  applies  especially  to  Italy. 
The  hindrances  which  here  oppose  themselves  to  Protest- 
ant missionary  enterprises  do  not  exist  for  evangelical 


338  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

Catholicism.  It  was  therefore  a  true  instinct  which  led 
the  'American  Episcopal  Church  to  understand  that  to 
her  was  given  that  particular  cJiarisma  which  would  en- 
able her  in  the  home  of  the  Papacy  to  set  the  gospel, 
which  the  latter  had  placed  under  a  bushel,  once  more 
upon  its  candlestick.  The  successes  which  have  rewarded 
the  work  of  the  rector  of  the  Church  of  St.  Paul  in  Rome 
(Dr.  Nevin)  are  not  to  be  judged  in  the  light  of  a  sectarian 
proselytism.  In  this  young  Catholic  Church  of  Italy 
Canon  Campello,  with  his  many  like-minded  followers,  has 
found  a  firm  support ;  and  Bishop  Herzog,  acting  under 
the  authority  of  his  American  colleagues,  has  performed 
the  rite  of  confirmation  upon  a  number  of  young  Christ- 
ians (Easter,  1883).  The  foundation  of  a  Catholic 
bishopric  in  opposition  to  the  pseudo-Petrine  and  pseudo- 
Isidorean  Papacy  may  not  be  ventured  by  any  of  the 
European  state  Churches,  but  American  Christianity  is 
not  prevented  by  diplomatic  considerations  from  supply- 
ing this  most  urgent  need  of  the  Church  in  Italy.  Italy 
offers  a  large  harvest  for  the  evangelical  Catholicism 
which  she  represents.' 

Bishop  Herzog,  in  his  Pastoral  Letter  upon  Ecclesiasti- 
cal Communion  with  the  Anglo-American  Church,  sets 
forth  the  significance  of  this  fact  in  a  manner  most  con- 
vincing and  impressive,  such  as  characterises  only  those 
ideas  which  are  weighted  with  a  future  significance. 
This   letter   was    followed  by  an   address,   in  which  he 

'  The  author  elsewhere  speaks  as  follows  of  the  Church  in  Italy : 
"  Europe  has  quietly  allowed  the  pope  to  start  his  opposition  hierarchies  in 
England  and  Holland  and  has  permitted  the  bishops  under  him  to  claim 
jurisdiction  over  the  Protestants  in  their  dioceses.  No  state,  no  Church  in 
Europe  has  requited  the  papal  arrogance  with  the  foundation  of  a  Christian 
bishopric  in  Rome.  But  the  confirmation  of  Catholic  children  in  Rome  by 
the  Swiss  bishop,  Herzog,  has  brought  to  the  light  of  day  the  steps  that 
have  been  quietly  taken  by  the  Americans.  The  election  and  consecration 
of  a  Christian-Catholic  bishop  of  Rome  is  probably  only  a  question  of 
time." 


Americaii  Catholicism  339 

treated  of  the  history  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church. 
We  extract  from  this  historical  survey  the  comparison 
between  the  Episcopal  and  the  papal  Church  in  America: 

The  American  Episcopal  Church  is  apostolic  in  her  con- 
stitution, she  has  made  no  change  in  the  apostolic  episcopate 
and  in  the  equality  of  the  apostles  which  St.  Paul  so  strongly 
emphasises  ;  the  Roman  Church  is  no  longer  apostolic,  but 
papal  ;  she  has  nullified  the  word  of  the  Saviour  :  "  Call  no 
man  your  father  upon  the  earth  :  for  one  is  your  Father, 
which  is  in  heaven.  Neither  be  ye  called  masters  :  for  one  is 
your  Master,  even  Christ,"  and  has  made  one  man  "  holy 
father"  and  the  infallible  teacher  of  all  men,  and  in  open 
defiance  of  God's  word  has  given  to  this  one  man  all  power 
over  all  churches  and  all  believers  in  all  matters  of  faith,  of 
morals,  of  discipline,  and  of  Church  government. 

The  former  is  primitive  in  her  doctrine  ;  she  acknowledges 
the  creeds  of  the  ancient  undivided  Church  and  the  principle 
that  only  that  is  to  be  received  as  binding  in  the  faith  which 
has  been  believed  from  the  beginning,  everywhere  and  by  all 
in  the  Church.  The  latter  receives  the  insipid  phantasies  of 
mediaeval  monks  and  the  cunning  inventions  of  the  Jesuits, 
which  have  been  made  dogma  under  Pius  IX. 

The  former  is  primitive  in  her  liturgy  ;  especially  does  she 
celebrate  the  Holy  Communion  in  a  manner  most  dignified 
and  elevating,  and  with  prayers  in  which  no  one  will  miss 
anything  essential.  The  latter,  with  her  dead  language  and 
her  many  and  serious  abuses,  has  driven  the  faithful  more  and 
more  from  the  sanctuary. 

The  former  is  humane  ;  she  opens  her  benevolent  institu- 
tions to  all,  even  Jews  and  heathen,  who  apply  to  her  for  help. 
The  latter  brings  sacrifices  only  where  she  can  further  her 
hierarchical  and  political  ends. 

The  Episcopal  Church  of  America  is  national  and  is  anx- 
iously careful  to  avoid  forcing  her  forms  and  peculiarities 
upon  others;  on  the  contrary,  she  delights  in  seeing  independent 
national  churches  arise  upon  other  continents,  to  which  she 
can  offer  her  hand.     The  Roman  Church  is  only  Roman  and 


340  T^^^  Papacy  i7i  the  igth  Century 

everywhere  anti-national ;  she  endeavours  to  force  everything 
into  her  own  forms  and  formulas,  and  does  not  rest  until  she 
has  obliterated  the  national  character  of  the  Church  and  stifled 
all  national  life  in  the  Church.  She  has  strangled  the  Gallican 
Church,  she  has  subjected  the  theological  universities  of  Ger- 
many to  Jesuitism,  she  has  wiped  out  the  various  national  lit- 
urgies, and  down  to  our  own  day  she  has  either  broken  or 
anathematised  every  character  of  any  independence. 

Our  sister  Church  is  tolerant  ;  she  tolerates  within  her  own 
bosom  various  tendencies  and  various  forms,  and  looks  upon 
herself,  not  as  the  Church,  but  as  a  branch  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  The  Roman  Church,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the  only 
saving  Church,  and  whosoever  does  not  hold  to  her  loses 
eternal  salvation  ;  for,  says  Boniface  VIII.,  it  is  necessary,  for 
the  salvation  of  every  human  creature,  to  be  subject  to  the 
pope. 

Our  sister  Church  is  patriotic  ;  she  does  not  mix  herself  in 
affairs  which  do  not  concern  her,  but  is  satisfied  to  be  the 
heart  and  conscience  of  the  people,  and  to  stimulate  the  heart 
and  the  conscience  of  all  her  members  ;  and  by  so  doing  she 
seeks  to  accomplish  in  behalf  of  the  welfare  of  the  people 
something  which  no  school  and  no  police  can  do.  She  has  no 
conflicts  with  the  civil  authorities  of  the  country,  but  meets 
with  ready  recognition  from  all  who  have  the  public  welfare 
at  heart,  in  her  activity  for  the  education  of  the  young,  for  the 
spiritual  and  moral  elevation  of  the  people,  in  her  struggle 
against  the  many  social  evils  and  needs.  In  spite,  therefore, 
of  the  separation  of  Church  and  State  there  is,  so  far  as  I 
know,  no  country  in  which  the  most  eminent  organs  of  the 
press  take  such  favourable  and  willing  notice  of  Church  events 
as  in  the  United  States.  The  Roman  Church,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  everywhere  a  foreigner,  even  in  Italy  ;  for  she  every- 
where pursues  tendencies  which  are  opposed  to  the  tendencies 
of  the  country — in  Italy,  in  France,  in  Belgium — wherever  the 
nation  has  become  of  age  and  has  attained  to  a  certain  liberty 
and  independence. 

Our  sister  Church  stands  in  no  conflict  with  the  civilisation 
and  the  progress  of  our  time  ;  her  members  are  among  the 


American  Catholicism  341 

best  educated  and  the  most  prosperous  inhabitants  of  the  new- 
world.  The  pope,  on  the  other  hand,  has  solemnly  declared 
that  he  cannot  reconcile  himself  with  modern  civilisation,' 
and  the  Roman  Church  in  time  crushes  the  strength  of  a 
people  ;  it  is  her  fault  that  such  earthly  paradises  as  Spain 
have  gradually  become  desolate  and  have  lost  their  dominat- 
ing influence  in  the  world  ;  and  it  is  her  shame  that  Catholic 
nations,  if  they  would  regain  their  ancient  importance  and 
rouse  themselves  once  more  to  active  spiritual,  physical,  and 
national  work,  inevitably  come  into  conflict  with  the  Roman 
hierarchy. 

We  find  ourselves  in  entire  accord  with  the  Catholic 
bishop,  and  see  in  the  ideal  Catholicism  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church  the  exact  reverse  of  the  papal  uni- 
versal monarchy.  The  papal  press,  on  the  other  hand, 
dwells  with  particular  predilection  upon  the  Church's 
conquests  in  America.  Alongside  of  the  English  seces- 
sions, it  is  especially  the  extension  of  the  papal  power  in 
the  free  states  of  the  new  world  which  it  paints  in  the 
most  glowing  colours.  And  as  with  each  new  English 
convert  the  amount  of  his  income  is  generally  the  first 
thing  which  they  publish,  the  same  is  done  in  America 
with  the  value  of  newly  acquired  ecclesiastical  capital, 
which,  according  to  papal  canon  law,  belongs  no  longer  to 
the  parishes  but  to  the  Roman  bishop. 

Whoever  has  not  been  sufficiently  taught  by  European 
events  to  appreciate  the  true  nature  of  the  "  ideal"  of 
world-renunciation  which  prevails  in  the  papal  Church, 
will  find  it  worth  his  while  to  study  American  conditions 
such  as  they  actually  are.  He  will  learn  to  know  the 
whole  Roman  Church  as  a  solidly  compact  political 
power,  which  at  present  draws  its  advantage  by  forming 
alliances  with  one  and  the  other  of  the  old  parties,  but 
for  the  future  has  far  more  ambitious  schemes  in  view. 

'  See  the  last  article  of  the  Syllabus  (Introduction). 


342  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

The  statistics  of  the  increase  of  the  Roman  communion 
in  America  may  be  very  much  exaggerated  ;  nevertheless, 
the  dangers  which  the  papal  system  has  introduced,  which 
threaten  the  peace  among  the  various  religious  societies 
and  thereby  endanger  the  firmest  pillar  of  the  constitu- 
tion, are — so  we  are  forced  to  judge — considerably  greater 
than  in  the  European  states.  Some  time  ago  a  distin- 
guished authority  called  attention  to  the  plans  of  the 
Vatican  in  the  new  world,  which  had  hardly  been  noticed 
in  America  itself : 

The  Americans  are  like  the  French  :  whatever  lies  outside 
of  America  is  totally  unknown  to  them.  Of  the  organisa- 
tion, the  unity,  the  power,  and  the  influence  of  the  Vatican, 
by  far  the  largest  majority  has  not  even  the  most  shadowy 
conception,  for  the  reason  that  their  history  shows  no  record 
of  struggles  with  Rome  like  those  of  the  old  world.  But 
the  danger  here  is  even  greater  than  on  the  other  side,  be- 
cause here  republican  liberty  is  used  for  dark  purposes  and 
misused  for  the  strangling  of  liberty.  Soon  we  shall  have  in 
America  more  monasteries,  congregations,  and  associations 
than  are  in  France  and  Italy  together,  and  the  untaxable 
property  of  the  Vatican  grows  in  mighty  proportions  ;  and 
money  is  power.  If  you  were  to  look  through  Sadlice's  Catho- 
lic Directory  (New  York,  1875),  you  would  be  astonished  at 
the  power  which  Rome  now  possesses  here,  and  the  book  of 
the  Redemptorist  father,  Michael  Miiller,  Public  School  Educa- 
tion  (New  York,  1875),  would  give  you  an  idea  of  the  boldness 
with  which  they  operate. 

The  author  of  this  quotation  is  Frederick  Hecker,  the 
revolutionary  hero  of  1848,  who  took  refuge  in  republi- 
can America,  and  who  expressed  this  judgment  in  one  of 
his  last  letters.  He  can  certainly  not  be  said  to  lack 
either  the  knowledge  adequate  to  the  criticism  which  he 
makes  upon  the  American  conception  of  liberty  or  a 
familiarity  with  Roman  Catholicism,  which  he  brought 
with  him  from  his  South  German  home.     There  prevails 


American  Catholicism  343 

in  young  America  very  generally  the  same  infatuation 
concerning  the  power  of  the  Vatican  as  did  in  Germany 
before  the  days  of  the  Ktiltiirkanipf.  Men  do  not  reflect 
upon  how  many  new  strongholds  the  Papacy  has  added 
to  its  old  centres  in  the  states  of  Florida  and  Louisiana, 
originally  colonised  by  Spaniards  and  Frenchmen,  and  the 
Jacobite  colony  of  Lord  Baltimore  in  Maryland.  Canada, 
in  spite  of  the  British  dominion,  is  one  of  the  most  import- 
ant arsenals  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  More  than  half  of  the 
inhabitants  are  of  French  or  Irish  origin;  in  the  southern 
part  of  Quebec  the  Roman  priest  exercises  a  sway  as  unre- 
stricted as  in  Ireland.  In  the  Union  itself  Irish  voters  have 
acquired  more  and  more  influence  over  political  parties, 
and  thereby  have  made  themselves  strongly  felt  in  politics. 

At  the  time  of  the  Rebellion,  the  action  of  President 
Jefferson  Davis  may  have  been  considered  a  sort  of  curi- 
osity, when  he  invoked  the  arbitration  of  the  pope,  and 
received  from  Antonelli  a  very  adroit  answer,  calculated 
to  suit  every  possible  issue  of  the  crisis.  But  how  often 
since  that  time  have  not  the  Presidents  of  the  Union  been 
obliged  to  submit,  whenever  Irish  revolutionary  commit- 
tees made  their  demands!  The  mission  of  Archbishop 
Bedini  under  Pius  IX.  has  been  followed  by  that  of  Cardi- 
nal Howard  under  Leo  XIII.,  who  transacted  the  papal 
business  without  the  title  of  nuncio,  but  also  without 
hindrance  by  any  kind  of  state  control. 

Nor  are  there  wanting  zealous  converts,  theological  as 
well  as  non-theological.  A  number  of  German  and  Eng- 
lish divines  in  America  have  taken  refuge  with  the  rock 
of  St.  Peter,  and  children  of  mixed  marriages  are  trained 
to  be  the  tools  of  the  Propaganda.  A  son  of  the  cele- 
brated General  Sherman  has  been  educated  by  his  zealous 
Roman  Catholic  mother  as  a  Jesuit.  This  is  the  same 
who,  as  teacher  at  the  Jesuit  college  at  Woodstock,  sprang 
into  fame  by  his  defence  of  the  humane  institution  of  the 
Inquisition. 


344  ■^'^^^  Papacy  in  the  igtJi  Century 

The  papal  Church  in  America,  besides  its  efforts  to  in- 
fluence politics,  directs  its  attention  particularly  to  the 
schools.  At  a  convention  held  in  Frankfurt  in  1882, 
Father  Miiller,  referred  to  above  as  the  author  of  the 
book  Public  School  Educatioji,  spoke  of  the  immense  con- 
quests in  the  sphere  of  education  made  during  the  past 
ten  years.  The  Jesuits,  he  said,  driven  out  of  Europe, 
were  free  to  travel  over  the  whole  Union.  Very  many 
educational  institutions,  and  especially  the  higher  schools, 
were  in  the  hands  of  Jesuits,  and  half  of  the  pupils  were 
not  of  Catholic  parentage.  The  Catholics  themselves  no 
longer  sent  their  children  to  the  godless  public  schools, 
but  to  their  own  parochial  schools.  And  these  were 
almost  exclusively  under  the  direction  of  men  in  religious 
orders  whom  the  Kulturkampf  had  driven  to  America. 

To  these  communications  from  Father  Miiller  we  may 
add  that  since  then  a  "  free  "  university  '  with  a  rich  en- 
dowment has  been  started  by  the  Jesuits.  All  these 
educational  institutions  of  various  kinds  stand  under  the 
same  direction  and  play  into  each  other's  hands.  It  can 
hardly  be  long  before  the  same  consequences  will  show 
themselves,  only  very  much  intensified,  as  in  the  schools 
of  Belgium  and  Holland. 

The  political  and  pedagogical  activity  of  the  Church 
militant  is  supported  by  a  skilfully  organised  press,  which 
likewise  owes  its  great  influence  to  a  unified  direction, 
while  the  unhealthy  condition  of  American  party  life  is 
the  cause  of  innumerable  petty  divisions  and  rivalries. 
Over  against  the  dreadful  corruption  in  the  civil  service, 
the  venal  ring  administration  in  the  cities,  and  the  fierce 
competition  among  the  railroad  kings,  the  work  in  behalf 
of  the  papal  universal  monarchy  appears  like  the  pursuit 
of  a  noble  ideal.  As  in  Germany,  so  there  are  in  America 
a  number  of  high-minded  characters  who  have  been  so 
charmed  by  the  magician  of  Rome  that  they  have  given 

'  See  page  246,  note. 


American  Catholicism  345 

all  their  powers  to  his  service.  At  the  Vatican  Council 
the  most  learned  of  the  North  American  bishops  were 
among  the  most  energetic  representatives  of  the  opposi- 
tion :  Quirinus  (Dollinger)  has  given  a  series  of  interest- 
ing communications  concerning  the  hopes  and  the  fears 
which  they  then  cherished.  We  speak  of  the  "  latent 
powers  "  of  genuine  religion,  which  the  Papacy  has 
bound :  the  figure  is  nowhere  more  applicable  than  in 
the  new  world. 

Under  the  feverish  effort  for  extension  of  its  sphere  of 
power,  the  moral  task  of  the  Church  suffers  more  even 
than  in  Europe.  In  order  to  win  rich  and  illustrious 
members,  or  at  least  not  to  lose  their  contributions, 
much  is  overlooked.  The  defects  which  to-day  attach 
themselves  to  the  Church  life  of  America  in  all  denomi- 
nations are  to  a  large  extent  due  to  the  worldly  political 
features  of  the  Roman  Church,  whose  lead  in  this  respect 
is  followed  by  the  other  communions.  But  in  a  rivalry 
of  this  nature  no  other  Church  can  hold  its  own  against 
the  Church  of  Rome.  In  a  masterly  way  she  under- 
stands how  to  use  her  compact  organisation  so  as  to 
profit  by  the  divisions  among  the  Protestant  sects.  And 
this  will  not  be  changed  until  the  unadulterated  Catholic 
ideal,  which  in  the  Episcopal  Church  alone  has  been  com- 
bined with  the  Protestant  ideal  in  a  higher  unity,  takes 
deep  root  in  the  whole  great  body  of  American  Protest- 
antism. A  noteworthy  movement  in  this  direction  has 
been  made  by  the  convention  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance 
in  New  York.  The  dogmatic  character  of  its  statutes 
has  perhaps  made  co-operation  impossible  for  all  but  a 
fraction  of  those  who  are  in  sympathy  with  the  ideals  of 
the  first  founders.  But  that  which  has  proved  unattain- 
able by  European  state-ecclesiasticism  has  been  clearly 
recognised  in  the  birth-land  of  the  free  Church  as  the 
task  of  the  future:  the  conquest  of  papalism  by  evangel- 
ical Catholicism. 


CHAPTER   XX 

THE   LATIN   STATES   OF   AMERICA   IN   THEIR   RELATIONS 

TO    THE    ROMAN    CURIA    AND    IN    THEIR 

ECCLESIASTICAL   DEVELOPMENT 


THE  development  of  civilisation  among  European 
states  has  been  largely  determined  by  the  religion 
which  they  professed.  And  in  America  the  contrasts  be- 
tween Germanic  and  Latin  states,  even  more  marked  than 
in  Europe,  are  traced  to  the  differences  of  religion  among 
the  first  colonisers.  English  Protestant  antecedents  fur- 
nish the  key  to  the  history  of  the  North  American  Union, 
and  similarly  we  shall  understand  the  condition  of  affairs 
in  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  colonies  only  by  taking 
into  account  the  nationality  and  the  religion  of  the  con- 
questadors.  From  the  very  beginning,  the  Roman  clergy 
in  Central  and  South  America  ruled  with  a  power  almost 
more  unrestricted  than  in  Spain  or  Portugal.  Nowhere 
had  religion  become  so  completely  externalised  as  here ; 
nowhere  did  it  exhaust  itself  so  entirely  in  the  veneration 
paid  to  the  clergy,  the  diligent  hearing  of  mass,  and  the 
strict  observance  of  the  many  feast-days,  while  the  ex- 
cessive worship  of  saints  impressed  even  European  Catho- 
lics as  a  kind  of  new  idolatry.  To  this  day  there  prevails 
in  the  remoter  regions  the  grossest  superstition,  which  is 
used  to  great  advantage  by  the  priests  for  their  trade  in 
indulgences  and  amulets.  With  the  increasing  impover- 
ishment, neglect,  and  ethical  degradation  of  the  people 

346 


TJie  Lxtin  States  of  America  347 

has  gone  hand  in  hand  the  increase  of  wealth  among  the 
clergy. 

Into  this  paradise  of  the  clergy,  which  had  attained  its 
climax  in  the  Jesuit  state  of  Paraguay,  the  war  of  inde- 
pendence against  Spain  entered  as  a  disturbing  element. 
When  Joseph  Bonaparte,  upon  his  accession  to  the  throne 
of  Spain  in  1808,  demanded  the  subjection  of  the  Spanish 
colonies,  the  latter,  instead  of  obeying,  followed  the  ex- 
ample of  the  Spaniards  themselves,  and  established  pro- 
visional juntas  in  the  name  of  Ferdinand  VII.  At  the 
same  time  they  demanded  of  the  Spanish  Cortes  in  Cadiz 
to  be  placed  on  the  same  level  with  the  mother-country. 
When  this  was  denied,  there  followed,  in  the  majority  of 
the  colonies,  the  declaration  of  independence.  After  the 
Peninsular  war  and  the  expulsion  of  the  French,  King 
Ferdinand  '  might  by  timely  and  just  reforms  have  won 
back  the  colonies  for  Spain.  But  in  the  spirit  of  the  un- 
improved absolutism  which  he  restored  in  Spain,  he  de- 
manded the  unconditional  subjection  of  the  colonies. 
The  consequence  was  that  one  colony  after  another  sepa- 
rated itself  definitely  from  Spain.  Buenos  Ayres  was  the 
first,  in  1 8 16;  Chili  followed  in  18 17;  Colombia,  Vene- 
zuela, and  New  Granada,  in  18 19;  Peru  in  1821.  The 
same  happened  in  those  parts  of  Central  and  North 
America  which  by  their  origin  belonged,  not  to  the 
Germanic-Protestant,  but  to  the  Latin-Catholic  category  : 
in  Guatemala  (1820),  Domingo  (1821),  Mexico  (1822  and 
1823).  And  even  Brazil  followed  the  general  example, 
and  separated  itself  in  the  year  1822  from  Portugal  and 
proclaimed  an  independent  empire. 

Since  then  all  these  new  states  have  been  subjected  to 
numerous  internal  revolutions,  and  in  the  midst  of  all 
the  confusions,  internal  and  external,  these  countries,  for- 
merly so  isolated,  have  been  more  and  more  affected  by 
modern    ideas.       But    revolution    has   broken    only   the 

'  Restored  to  the  throne  of  Spain  in  1814. 


348  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

political,  not  the  ecclesiastical,  absolutism.  For  the 
clergy,  consisting  mostly  of  natives  and  hating  the  Spanish 
bishops,  made  common  cause  with  the  people,  and  in  re- 
turn the  constitutions  of  the  young  republics  confirmed 
the  monopoly  of  the  Roman  Church.  The  Mexican  con- 
stitution of  1824  expressly  declared  in  its  third  article: 
"  The  religion  of  the  Mexican  nation  is  and  ever  remains 
the  Apostolic-Roman-Catholic;  the  nation  will  protect 
this  religion  by  wise  and  just  laws  and  forbids  the  exer- 
cise of  every  other  worship."  So  with  the  constitutions 
of  the  Central  and  South  American  states. 

Although,  therefore,  Pope  Pius  VII.,  in  1824,  advised 
maintaining  the  connection  with  Spain,  Leo  XXL,  in 
1827,  not  only  recognised  the  governments  de  facto,  but 
filled  the  vacant  bishoprics  and  sent  his  legates.  In  this 
manner  the  clergy  retained  the  sympathy  of  the  people 
and  their  power.  Only  gradually,  beginning  in  the  coast 
towns,  in  which  commerce  and  industry  had  established 
themselves  and  where  Protestant  churches  were  soon 
organised,  a  change  began  to  take  place,  which,  however, 
is  not  everywhere  equally  noticeable.  For  still  there  ex- 
ists in  many  places  a  most  chaotic  condition  of  affairs  and 
the  various  parties  are  engaged  in  bitter  conflicts.  It  is 
no  mere  chance  that  both  Garibaldi  and  Pius  IX.  had 
been  active  in  the  South  American  republics.  The  con- 
flict of  principles  which  in  Italy  is  associated  with  their 
names  has  been  carried  over  to  those  remote  countries. 

The  country  which  has  passed  through  most  revolu- 
tions is  Mexico,  and  in  almost  all  of  these  revolutions  the 
attitude  towards  the  clergy  has  been  the  party  shibboleth. 
For  at  the  time  of  the  declaration  of  independence,  not 
only  was  there  the  inordinately  large  number  of  3200 
clergymen,  146  monasteries,  and  39  nunneries,  together 
with  II  bishops  and  i  archbishop;  but  the  clergy  pos- 
sessed about  half  of  all  the  real  estate.     And  yet,  the 


The  Latin  States  of  America  349 

taxes  in  behalf  of  the  Church  had  been  immensely  in- 
creased, and  were  collected  with  the  aid  of  imprisonment 
and  the  whipping-post.  A  number  of  pretenders  and 
regents,  such  as  Santa  Anna  and  Miramon,  found  their 
support  among  the  clergy  ;  while  the  liberal  governments 
sought  to  deprive  the  clergy  of  their  influence.  The 
liberal  party,  finally  victorious,  secularised  the  real  estate 
of  the  Church,  provided  for  the  gradual  dissolution  of  the 
monasteries,  took  away  the  jurisdiction  of  the  clergy  in 
civil  and  criminal  cases,  introduced  civil  marriage  and 
civil  register,  and  in  the  end  even  proclaimed  liberty  of 
conscience.  The  clerical  party,  bankrupt  in  the  country 
itself,  called  in  foreign  help. 

Pecuniary  difficulties,  which  were  added  to  the  con- 
fusion, finally  brought  about  the  Spanish-English-French 
expedition,  from  which,  after  the  withdrawal  of  the  first 
two  powers,  there  was  developed  the  French  occupation 
and  the  empire  of  the  Hapsburg  Maximilian  I.  Although 
called  in  by  the  clerical  party,  yet  the  Emperor  Maxi- 
milian could  maintain  his  position  and  could  successfully 
meet  the  pressing  difificulties  of  the  situation — the  Ro- 
man Curia  refusing  to  grant  any,  even  the  most  essential, 
reforms  —  only  by  instituting  of  his  own  motion  such 
measures  as  were  absolutely  necessary.  And  so  it  was 
that  the  prince  who  had  made  a  special  pilgrimage  to 
Rome  and  had  been  dismissed  with  the  particular  bless- 
ing of  the  pope,  came  himself  into  decided  conflict  with 
the  Vatican.  At  the  same  time,  after  the  victory  of  the 
Union  over  the  rebellious  slave  states,  his  throne,  which 
had  been  founded  upon  the  expectation  of  an  opposite 
issue  of  the  struggle,  became  very  insecure. 

In  the  year  1867  the  tragedy  of  poor  Maximilian  came 
to  an  end  at  Queretaro,  where  he  was  shot.  Before  his 
own  death  he  had  received  the  news  that  the  Empress 
Charlotte  had  become  hopelessly  insane  in  the  ante-room 
of  Pius  IX.,  after  the  audience  in  which  the  pope  had 


350  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

rudely  reproached  her  when  she  came  to  implore  his 
help.  Since  then  she  remains  under  the  care  of  her  rela- 
tives in  the  castle  of  Tervueren  in  her  Belgian  home. 
The  terrible  fate  of  the  princely  couple,  who  were  ani- 
mated by  the  highest  motives,  has  since  been  cleared  up 
by  a  series  of  authentic  publications  from  original  docu- 
ments found  after  the  fall  of  the  empire  in  the  imperial 
archives.  These  documents  have  proved  that  the  cause 
of  all  the  difficulties  with  which  the  emperor  had  to  con- 
tend were  the  pretensions  of  the  Vatican,  which  were  as 
insatiable  as  they  were  irreconcilable  with  the  claims  of 
the  modern  state. 

Before  their  departure  for  Mexico  the  imperial  couple 
had  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome  in  order  to  receive  the 
blessing  of  the  holy  father.  Besides  this  blessing  and 
the  promise  of  the  papal  influence  upon  the  Mexican 
clergy  in  favour  of  the  new  monarchy,  Pius  IX.  also 
promised  to  send  a  legate  with  sufficient  authority  for 
composing  all  difficulties.  But  after  the  emperor  had 
arrived  in  Mexico  in  May,  1864,  he  had  to  wait  for  the 
promised  nuncio  until  the  end  of  December.  In  the 
meantime  the  commandant  of  the  French  troops  of 
occupation,  Marshal  Bazaine,  in  a  report,  dated  No- 
vember 3,  1864,  on  the  condition  of  affairs  in  the  sev- 
eral districts,  had  pictured  the  debased  state  of  the 
clergy  as  a  principal  cause  of  the  wretched  condition  of 
the  country. 

When  finally  the  nuncio  arrived  in  the  person  of  Mon- 
signore  Meglia,  he  brought  a  letter  from  the  pope  (dated 
October  18,  1864)  to  the  emperor,  in  which  a  detailed 
plan  for  the  reorganisation  of  ecclesiastical  affairs,  which 
the  latter  had  demanded,  was  laid  down.  But  what  a 
reorganisation!  "Above  all  is  it  necessary  that  the 
Catholic  Church  continue,  to  the  exclusion  of  every  other 
form  of  worship,  to  be  the  glory  and  the  support  of  the 
Mexican  nation."     Then  follow  other  conditions: 


The  Latin  States  of  America  351 

that  the  bishops  should  be  entirely  free  in  the  exercise  of  their 
pastoral  office,  that  the  religious  orders  be  restored  and  re- 
organised according  to  the  instructions  of  the  pope,  that 
Church  property  and  all  rights  appertaining  to  it  be  defended 
and  protected,  especially  that  no  one  be  permitted  to  spread 
false  and  subversive  doctrines,  that  all  instruction,  public  as 
well  as  private,  be  conducted  and  watched  over  by  the  ecclesi- 
astical authority,  and  that  finally  all  the  fetters  be  broken  by 
which  until  now  the  Church  has  been  held  in  dependence 
upon  the  caprice  of  the  civil  government. 

These  were  only  preliminary  demands,  "  in  order  to  re- 
store happiness  to  the  Church  "  ;  they  were  also  the  first 
conditions  for  the  consolidation  of  the  empire  and  the 
restoration  of  social  order. 

The  unhappy  monarch  was  now  placed  before  the  alter- 
native, of  either  satisfying  the  pope  and  the  Church  by 
renouncing  the  most  essential  rights  of  government  and 
thereby  depriving  the  state  of  the  most  important  and 
the  most  indispensable  sources  of  income,  or  of  adding 
the  opposition  of  the  nuncio  to  the  antagonism  of  his 
political  enemies. 

He  attempted  a  middle  course  and  put  together  in  nine 
points  all  that  he  could  concede  and  what  he  could  not 
concede ;  these  points,  however,  included  concessions  to 
the  Papacy  which  it  was  impossible  to  fulfil.  He  de- 
clared himself  ready  to  restore  the  Roman-Apostolic- 
Catholic  worship  as  the  "state  religion";  but  other 
forms  of  worship  would  have  to  be  "  tolerated."  The 
other  demands  also  of  the  Vatican  were  as  far  as  possible 
sanctioned  and  only  the  most  indispensable  conditions  at- 
tached to  them.  The  state  treasury  was  to  provide  for  all 
the  expenses  of  the  Catholic  worship,  the  Church  receiv- 
ing the  same  privileges  as  were  accorded  to  the  civil  list 
of  the  state ;  in  return  the  clergy  were  not  to  oppress  the 
people  with  parochial  taxes,  tithes,  etc.  (as  had  been  done 
in  most  cruel  manner  before  the  reform  laws).     The  holy 


352  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Century 

father  was  to  be  authorised,  with  the  consent  of  the  em- 
peror, to  determine  what  suppressed  orders  and  reh'gious 
organisations  were  to  be  restored  and  in  what  form.  In  all 
places  where  the  conditions  made  it  possible,  the  Catho- 
lic clergy  were  to  be  intrusted  with  the  care  of  the  regis- 
ters of  births,  marriages,  and  deaths.  The  privileges  of  the 
clergy,  especially  the  right  of  jurisdiction  and  the  care  of 
cemeteries,  were  allowed,  but  were  to  be  defined  in  future 
negotiations.  The  direction  and  superintendence  of  all 
instruction  by  the  clergy  was  sanctioned  without  any  ques- 
tion and  was  not  even  touched  upon  in  the  nine  points. 

All  this  was  not  enough  for  the  Curia.  The  nuncio 
immediately  declared :  he  had  no  authority  to  negotiate, 
but  simply  to  demand  the  repeal  of  the  "  reform  laws" 
and,  in  general,  of  all  laws  which  were  contrary  to  the 
sacred  rights  of  the  Church,  The  nine  points  contained 
reservations  which  were  inimical  to  the  doctrine  as  well 
as  the  discipline  and  the  sacred  canons  of  the  Church. 
Above  all,  objection  was  made  to  the  first  point,  concern- 
ing the  toleration  of  other  forms  of  worship,  which  vio- 
lated the  doctrine  of  the  Church  and  injured  the  feelings 
of  a  Catholic  people.  But  he  had  also  received  instruc- 
tions to  insist  upon  the  unconditioned  restoration  of  the 
religious  orders  and  the  restitution  of  the  churches  and 
monasteries  as  well  as  upon  the  recognition  of  all  former 
rights  of  the  clergy  in  regard  to  the  acquisition,  posses- 
sion, and  the  administration  of  property,  real  and  per- 
sonal. With  regard  to  the  proposed  payment  of  salaries 
to  bishops  and  clergy,  they  would  prefer  to  live  upon  the 
charity  of  the  faithful;  the  renunciation  of  their  plun- 
dered property  by  the  Church  was  entirely  out  of  the 
question.  And  in  general  Meglia  explained  his  mission 
by  declaring  that  he  had  only  been  sent  to  demand  the 
repeal  of  the  laws  inimical  to  the  Church,  compensation 
for  all  injury  done  to  the  Church,  and  complete  independ- 
ence and  hberty  for  the  Church  in  the  future. 


The  Latin  States  of  America  353 

One  must  know  the  details  of  these  transactions  as 
they  are  given  in  the  account  entitled  The  Retaiions  of 
the  Holy  See  to  Mexico  before  and  during  the  Episode  of 
the  Emperor,  which  is  based  upon  official  documents,  to 
get  an  idea  of  how  far  the  poor  emperor  and  his  wife 
went  and  what  pains  he  took  to  explain  the  actual  con- 
dition of  affairs,  in  order  to  make  Monsignore  Meglia 
understand  the  utter  impossibility  of  his  demands.  The 
same  answer  was  always  given :  Non  possumus.  In  the 
meantime  the  president,  Juarez,  made  daily  increasing 
progress,  and  in  the  parts  which  came  into  his  possession 
the  clergy  were  energetically  restrained  within  their  limits. 
In  order  to  overcome  so  dangerous  an  opponent,  the  em- 
peror would  have  had  to  rival  him  in  measures  for  the 
welfare  of  the  people.  Instead  of  this,  he  was  placed  in 
the  dilemma,  either  to  yield  to  the  exorbitant  demands 
of  the  pope  or  to  make  an  enemy  of  the  very  party  that 
had  called  him  into  the  country. 

On  Christmas  day,  1864,  Monsignore  Meglia  replied  to 
the  concessions  which  the  emperor  had  offered  by  assert- 
ing that  the  latter  only  intended  to  complete  the  work 
begun  by  Juarez.  Thereupon  the  emperor,  on  the  27th 
of  December,  commissioned  the  minister  of  justice,  Es- 
cudero,  to  make  the  necessary  proposals  with  a  view  to 
taking  the  control  of  ecclesiastical  affairs  into  his  own 
hands.  On  December  29th  the  nuncio  protested  against 
this  proceeding.  The  emperor  reminded  him,  on  the  7th 
of  January,  1865,  of  the  law  promulgated  at  the  time  of 
the  declaration  of  independence,  according  to  which  all 
papal  pronouncements  intended  for  the  country  required 
the  sanction  of  the  state  authorities.  Meglia  protested 
again  on  the  19th  of  January,  and  two  days  later  diplo- 
matic intercourse  with  him  was  broken  off". 

This  ended  Meglia's  work.  But  still  the  emperor 
hoped  to  be  able  to  appeal  from  the  ill-advised  to  the 
better-advised  pope.     He  now  sent  an  embassy  to  Rome. 


354  '^^^  Papacy  in  the  igtii  Cejttury 

When  this  proved  futile,  he  separated  himself  from  his 
faithful  wife,  in  order  to  let  her  appeal  to  the  heart  of  the 
pope.  Pius  IX.  declared  that  "  he  was  surprised  that  a 
person  of  her  age  and  her  sex  dared  to  present  such  a 
matter."  The  effect  upon  the  empress  of  the  pope's  lan- 
guage has  already  been  told :  she  became  insane. 

The  Old-Catholic  Messenger  closes  the  discussion  of  the 
newly  published  documents  with  this  question:  "  Can 
we  suppose  that  the  bloody  sandhill  of  Queretaro  and  the 
insane  woman  of  Tervueren  never  rose  up  to  disturb  the 
last  dreams  of  the  aged  Pius  ?  "  We  reply  to  this  ques- 
tion with  a  negative,  simply  because  Pius  at  no  time 
loved  any  other  person  than  his  own  dear  self. 

When  the  princely  couple,  in  response  to  the  urgent 
appeal  of  the  clericals,  had  taken  upon  itself  the  heavy 
weight  of  such  a  throne,  the  pope  had  declared  that 
"  with  the  establishment  of  the  new  empire  he  looked  for 
the  dawning  of  peaceful  and  happy  days."  He  had  ex- 
pressed his  particular  pleasure  "  that  there  had  been 
called  to  this  crown  a  prince  of  a  Catholic  family  which 
had  given  so  many  brilliant  proofs  of  religious  devotion," 
and  who  personally  "  would  show  himself  worthy  of  the 
blessing  of  Jesus  Christ,  of  the  prince  of  the  Church,  and 
of  her  bishops."  But  when  the  emperor  had  begun  his 
task,  impossible  demands  were  made  upon  him,  and  when 
he  demonstrated  their  impossibility,  the  promised  sup- 
port was  withdrawn  at  a  time  when  the  partial  fulfilment 
of  the  papal  wishes  had  vastly  increased  the  number  and 
the  bitterness  of  his  enemies. 

With  all  this,  the  transactions  in  Mexico  brought  no 
advantages  to  the  Curia,  any  more  than  to  the  Empress 
Eugenie  and  her  husband,  whom  his  pious  wife  influenced 
in  favour  of  the  "  Catholic  work  "  in  America.  The 
weakening  of  the  French  military  power  is  traced  to  the 
Mexican  adventure.  And  it  was  a  fatal  coincidence  that 
the  news  of  the  execution  of  Maximilian  arrived  in  Paris 


The  Latin  States  of  America  355 

during  the  days  of  the  Austrian  emperor's  visit,  when 
the  alliance  against  Germany  was  to  be  effected.  This 
made  an  end  of  the  alliance  and  thereby  nullified  the 
preliminary  conditions,  which  were  essential  to  guarantee 
to  France  the  victory  in  the  war  against  Germany  so  long 
planned  by  Eugenie's  father  confessors. 

The  republican  constitution  of  Mexico  was  restored 
after  the  short  episode  of  the  empire,  and  with  it  the 
ecclesiastical  reform  legislation.  This  was  subsequently 
carried  still  further,  to  the  complete  emancipation  of  the 
state  from  the  Church.  The  Mexican  government  no. 
longer  recognises  a  papal  authority,with  which  it  is  obliged 
to  negotiate  as  sovereign  with  sovereign :  it  ignores  the 
pope  entirely.  The  consequences  threatened  by  the  pope 
have  not  been  realised.  Appointments  of  clergy  have  to 
be  sanctioned  by  the  government,  monasteries  and  ec- 
clesiastical possessions  have  remained  secularised,  the 
schools  have  been  freed  from  the  supervision  and  the 
control  of  the  clergy.  Toleration  of  other  forms  of  wor- 
ship has  from  time  to  time  called  forth  crusades  on  the 
part  of  the  priests  against  heretics  in  the  remoter  regions, 
but  is  making  steady  progress  from  year  to  year.  The 
social  position  of  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy  itself  has 
been  raised  by  the  exclusion  of  unworthy  priests.  Even 
the  revolutionary  pronunciamentos,  formerly  so  numer- 
ous, have  become  rarer  in  the  course  of  the  past  years. 

If  the  condition  of  affairs  in  Mexico  is  becoming  grad- 
ually more  worthy  of  a  modern  state,  the  best  part  of  this 
result  has  been  effected  by  the  increasing  influence  of  the 
neighbouring  Union.  So  much  the  more  glaring,  how- 
ever, is  the  contrast  with  the  Central  and  South  American 
republics,  which  are  for  ever  distracted  by  revolutions, 
where  hitherto  it  has  been  impossible  to  bring  about  set- 
tled conditions.  Here,  too,  the  fundamental  cause  of 
the  political  confusion  lies  in  the  ecclesiastical  situation. 


356  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Cenhiry 

While  North  America,  by  the  confluence  of  all  those  who 
were  persecuted  for  their  religion,  became  the  arena  of  the 
most  perfect  religious  liberty,  the  Spanish  conquestadors 
brought  the  Inquisition.  The  supremacy,  externally,  of 
the  Church  was  more  firmly  established  than  that  of  the 
state.  But  the  same  reaction  into  complete  infidelity 
which  Latin  Catholicism  experienced  in  Europe  in  the 
eighteenth  century  has  in  the  nineteenth  century  as- 
sumed far  greater  dimensions  in  Latin  America.  Hence 
the  never-ceasing  conflicts  of  both  extremes,  which  ren- 
ders a  peaceful  development  impossible. 

In  the  year  1867  we  find  a  double  war  going  on:  Brazil 
in  union  with  Uruguay  and  the  Argentine  Republic 
against  Paraguay,  where  the  dictator  Lopez  had  revived 
the  old  Jesuit  traditions;  and  the  war  of  Chili,  Peru,  and 
Bolivia  against  the  mother-country  of  Spain.  The  con- 
sequence of  the  first  war  was  the  complete  conquest  and 
devastation  of  Paraguay.  The  second  brought,  after 
peace  had  been  made  with  Spain,  new  quarrels,  which 
have  finally  ended  in  the  conquest  of  Peru  and  Bolivia  by 
the  aspiring  state  of  Chili.  At  the  same  time  the  Central 
American  republics  have  waged  repeated  wars  with  each 
other,  and  the  Argentine  Republic  has  been  thrown  from 
one  revolution  into  another.  Even  in  imperial  Brazil  the 
conditions  have  not  been  much  more  steady. 

Ecclesiastical  conditions  are  no  less  changeable.  To- 
day a  government  devoted  to  the  pope  is  at  the  helm  and 
sanctions  pretensions  which  elsewhere  would  appear  ab- 
solutely incredible.  To-morrow  ecclesiastical  property  is 
confiscated,  monks  and  nuns  are  released  from  their  vows 
and  Church  holidays  abolished.  The  day  after  to-morrow 
there  are  already  signs  of  the  first  preparation  for  a  clerical 
revolution.  Externally  the  daily  life  of  the  people  is 
interwoven  with  ecclesiastical  usages.  At  every  step 
one  meets  a  Botica  Jesus  y  Maria  or  a  Cervizeria 
Jesus  Nazareno.     The  favourite  female  baptismal  names 


The  Latin  States  of  America  357 

are  Immaculata  Conccpcion  and  Mai'ia  de  los  Dolores. 
At  the  same  time  the  newspapers  are  full  of  complaints 
about  the  immorality  of  the  ill-educated  and  illpaid 
clergy,  and  (to  cite  one  instance)  in  Lima  the  num- 
ber of  illegitimate  births  has  long  ago  exceeded  that 
of  the  legitimate.  People  of  education  identify  religion 
and  the  hierarchy  to  such  an  extent,  that  whoever  speaks 
a  word  in  favour  of  the  former  is  usually  put  down  as  an 
Ultramontane. 

The  same  papal  Curia  which  in  Europe  chooses  to  ap- 
peal to  liberty  shows  by  the  concordat  concluded  with 
Ecuador  in  1862  to  what  lengths  of  arrogant  demands  it 
dares  to  go  and  what  it  is  able  to  effect  in  Latin  America. 
All  that  was  demanded  of  Maximilian  in  Mexico  has  here 
been  sanctioned  by  law.  Only  the  Catholic  form  of 
worship  was  allowed  by  the  concordat  with  Ecuador; 
every  other  form  prohibited.  The  government  pledged 
itself  to  the  suppression  of  all  erroneous  doctrines. 
The  entire  school  system  was  placed  under  the  control 
of  the  clergy.  Every  book  prohibited  by  a  bishop 
was  to  be  confiscated.  The  government,  however,  went 
far  beyond  the  concordat.  Under  the  influence  of  the 
Jesuits,  who  in  this  loyal  republic  found  one  of  their  most 
important  arsenals,  the  dictator  Garcia  Moreno  devoted 
the  whole  country  to  the  Sacred  Heart  and  allotted  a 
large  part  of  the  yearly  income  to  the  poor  prisoner  in 
the  Vatican.  When  the  system  of  terror  which  he 
founded  had  come  to  its  customary  termination  by  his 
assassination,  the  papal  organs  of  all  countries  printed 
eulogies  of  this  greatest  statesman  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. To  what  an  incredible  degree  this  delusion  rose 
can  be  seen  in  the  Dutch  clerical  press  of  the  time.  The 
actual  consequence  of  the  Jesuit  episode  for  Ecuador  was 
that  this  republic  was  entirely  eclipsed  by  other  states 
such  as  Costa  Rica  and  Guatemala. 

Peru,   like   Ecuador,  rejoiced   in   a  dictator  after  the 


358  The  Papacy  in  the  igtJi  Cenhiry 

pope's  own  heart  —  Pierola.  This  is  the  Pierola  under 
whom  Peru  suffered  her  crushing  defeats  by  ChiH. 

Chili,  on  the  other  hand,  which  before  had  stood  very 
much  in  the  background,  won  by  this  war  a  position  of 
power  in  South  America  which  has  been  compared  with 
the  rise  of  Piedmont  and  of  Prussia.  For  a  long  time  the 
same  countenance  was  given  to  the  rudest  superstition 
here  as  in  the  neighbouring  states.  It  was  in  Santiago 
in  Chili  that  in  the  year  1866,  at  the  feast  of  the  Immacu- 
late Conception,  eighteen  hundred  women  met  their 
death  in  a  burning  church,  and  where  the  priest  Ugarte, 
who  shortly  before  had  instituted  a  mail  service  to  the 
Virgin  Mary,  declared  that  the  Virgin  had  taken  her 
devoted  children  to  herself,  because  Chili  had  needed  a 
large  number  of  saints  and  martyrs.  Not  long  after, 
however,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  clergy,  freedom 
of  worship  was  proclaimed  as  the  law  of  the  state.  The 
Vatican  revenged  itself  in  the  customary  manner,  by  pre- 
venting the  filling  of  the  episcopal  sees,  and  thereby  mak- 
ing the  satisfaction  of  the  religious  needs  of  the  people 
impossible. 

When  the  archiepiscopal  see  of  Santiago  became  vacant 
and  the  government  proposed  a  candidate  in  every  way 
fitted  for  the  position  (Dr.  Taforo),  his  confirmation  was 
refused  under  frivolous  pretexts.  The  efforts  of  the 
Chilian  ambassador  in  Rome  against  a  procedure  Vv^hich 
imperilled  the  authority  of  the  government  led  only  to  a 
painful  procrastination.  Appearances  seem  to  indicate 
that  the  enemies  of  Chili  endeavoured  to  revenge  them- 
selves for  their  defeat  in  the  field  by  winning  the  Curia 
to  their  side  and  thereby  producing  internal  confusion  in 
Chili.  Aside  from  this,  hov/ever,  it  was  but  natural  that 
the  increasing  strength  of  the  Chilian  state  should  re- 
animate the  old  principles  of  papal  reactionism,  which 
recognised  its  worst  enemy  in  every  powerful  state  organ- 
ism.    But  since  its  triumph  in  the  war,  which  exceeded 


The  Latin  States  of  America  359 

every  expectation,  the  young  and  strong  state  has  as- 
sumed an  energetic  attitude  against  papal  assumptions. 
The  conflict  between  both  culminated  in  the  expulsion 
of  the  nuncio  (January,  1883),  and  the  proposal  of  a  law 
for  the  separation  of  State  and  Church. 

A  similar  development  has  taken  place  in  the  United 
States  of  Colombia,  where  also  a  liberal  government  has 
restrained  the  Church  within  its  own  proper  limits  and 
has  raised  the  school  system  to  a  standard  which,  for 
South  American  conditions,  is  astonishingly  high.  Es- 
pecially worthy  of  notice  is  the  young  university  of 
Bogota,  which  has  become  the  centre  of  a  progressive 
system  of  education. 

In  the  Argentine  Republic  likewise,  as  often  as  there 
is  a  pause  in  the  customary  civil  wars,  the  school  question 
occupies  the  chief  place  in  the  popular  interest,  and  the 
two  parties,  clerical  and  liberal,  have  been  violently  op- 
posed to  each  other  upon  the  decisive  question  of  re- 
ligious instruction  in  the  public  schools. 

In  spite,  however,  of  liberal  aspirations  there  could  be 
no  greater  error  than  to  measure  the  religious  conditions, 
even  in  states  like  Chili  and  Colombia,  by  a  European 
standard.  No  educated  German  Catholic  would  recog- 
nise his  religion  in  the  fetichism  such  as  is  practised  by 
the  clergy.  Nor  has  Protestantism  exerted  any  influence 
upon  the  people  of  the  country.  Protestant  diminution 
of  the  personnel  attached  to  the  heavenly  court,  which 
eliminates  the  most  interesting  figures,  impresses  the 
people  as  tiresome.  The  prevailing  religious  conceptions 
represent  the  climax  of  materialism,  which  would  justify 
some  of  our  historians  in  placing  these  countries  at  the 
top  in  the  scale  of  advanced  nations,  in  contrast  to  a 
country  so  behind  the  age  as  the  North  American  Union. 

Parallel  with  the  development  of  the  Spanish  colonial 
states  has  been  that  of  Brazil,  both  during  its  union  with 
Portugal  and  after  its  separation.     The  clergy  of  Brazil 


360  The  Papacy  ui  the  i^th  Century 

have  never  been  so  extraordinarily  rich  as  the  clergy  of 
Spanish  America;  and  yet  their  power  has  been  suffi- 
ciently great  and  their  intolerance  correspondingly  in- 
tense. The  refusal  to  recognise  Protestant  marriages  has 
always  been,  and  is  now,  a  serious  factor  affecting  internal 
politics.  Nevertheless  there  is  observable  even  in  Brazil 
a  gradual  and  yet  distinct  diminution  in  the  power  of  the 
clergy.  After  the  Vatican  Council,  Brazil  even  had  its 
KulUirkampf,  which  the  Berlin  press  in  the  days  of  the 
German  Kiiltiirkampf  oit&w  held  up  as  a  worthy  example. 
In  this  struggle  with  the  government  the  policy  of  Leo 
XIII.  has  been  able  to  counteract  the  mistakes  of  his 
predecessor  and  to  cripple  the  state. 

But  the  German  Protestant  immigration,  which  as- 
sumes annually  greater  dimensions,  may  be  expected  in 
time  considerably  to  modify  the  condition,  not  only  of 
the  coast  lands,  but  also  of  the  interior  provinces.  And 
besides  this,  the  old-Catholic  movement,  which  in  Mexico 
has  already  made  itself  noticeably  felt,  will  meet  with  no 
barrier  in  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  especially  now  that 
the  projected  canal  prevents  for  all  future  time  a  seclusion 
from  the  rest  of  the  world  such  as  the  Jesuits  for  a  while 
effected  in  Ecuador. 

Even  in  the  negro  republic  of  Domingo-Hayti,  in  spite 
of  the  caricature  of  all  forms  of  culture  prevalent  there, 
the  modern  principles  of  religious  liberty  have  been  in- 
corporated in  the  constitution.  And  Cuba  also,  along 
with  the  most  hideous  outbreaks  of  an  incorrigible 
fanaticism,  nevertheless  has  profited  by  the  progress  made 
by  Spain  in  the  republican  episode. 


CHAPTER    XXI 


CATHOLIC   AND    PAPAL 


THE  pope  claims  to  be  the  "  head  of  the  Cathoh'c 
Church."  Few  stop  to  reflect  upon  the  arrogance 
and  presumption  of  that  claim,  and  in  the  tacit  sanction 
almost  universally  given  to  the  papal  pretensions  we  find 
the  most  potent  cause  of  that  increasing  power  of  the 
Papacy  which  characterises  the  history  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

And  be  it  remembered  that  the  representatives  of  the 
state  and  of  the  Protestant  Churches  have,  more  than  all 
others,  fairly  pressed  upon  the  Papacy  this  its  best  weapon 
against  those  within  its  own  fold  who  have  fought  the 
battle  for  a  true  Catholicism  and  who  have  been  the  most 
determined  opponents  of  papal  autocracy.  Even  in  the 
oflficial  documents  of  secular  governments  it  is  customary 
to  designate  the  pope  as  the  "  head  of  the  Catholic 
Church."  In  the  eyes  of  the  great  multitude  "  papal  " 
or  "  Jesuit  "  and  "  Catholic  "  are  synonymous,  and  Pro- 
testant authors  have  adopted  a  style  of  language  by 
which  those  who  in  theory  are  the  bitterest  enemies  of 
the  curialistic  system  really  do  their  best  to  smooth  its 
path. 

The  intolerable  pretensions  of  the  Papacy  are  therefore 
largely  the  result  of  Protestant  ignorance.  Not  until 
Protestants  shall  learn  that  the  idea  of  Catholicism  has 
its  roots  just  as  much  in  the  soil  of  the  gospel  and  is  just 

361 


362  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  CenHcry 

as  important  for  the  future  as  Protestantism,  that  Cath- 
olicism and  Protestantism  mutually  condition  each  other, 
will  there  be  recognised  the  opposition  between  Papalism 
and  Catholicism,  an  opposition  which  has  never  wholly- 
disappeared  in  the  Catholic  Church.  But  so  long  as  the 
customary  confusion  of  speech  is  maintained  and  men 
will  persist  in  using  language  in  a  manner  which  is  as 
false  as  it  is  contradictory  of  all  history,  the  power  of 
papalism  will  continue  to  increase. 

By  what  right  does  the  pope  claim  to  be  the  "  head 
of  the  Catholic  Church  "  ?  When  have  the  oldest 
Christian  Churches  relinquished  the  name  of  Catholic 
Churches  and  accepted  the  overlordship  of  the  pope  ? 
Where  have  the  English  and  the  American  Episcopal 
Churches  in  any  of  their  official  documents  omitted  to 
emphasise  their  Catholic  character  ?  Do  not  even  the 
original  literary  monuments  of  the  Lutheran  and  of  the 
Reformed  Church,  Zv/ingli's  theses  as  well  as  Luther's 
writings,  always  speak  of  their  adherents  as  members 
of  the  Catholic  Church  ?  Have  not  the  later  symbols 
made  a  particular  point  of  retaining  this  honourable 
designation  ? 

We  trace  to  the  terminology  of  the  Peace  of  Augs- 
burg '  and  of  the  Peace  of  Westphalia,''  the  fateful  use  of 
language  which  permitted  the  pope  to  proclaim  himself 
the  "  head  of  the  Catholic  Church,"  to  whom  all  baptised 
persons  are  subject.  But  another  factor  has  recently 
contributed  even  more  to  this  confusion  of  ideas  and  of 
language :  the  would-be  wise  diplomacy  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  which,  following  the  example  set  by  Niebuhr,' 
spoke  the  language  of  the  Curia,  quite  as  a  matter  of 

*  1555.  The  Peace  of  Augsburg  established  the  principle  that  the  religion 
of  the  people  should  be  that  of  the  prince,  either  Lutheran  or  Reformed  or 
Roman. 

^  Which  ended  the  Thirty  Years'  War  in  1648. 

'  See  page  62,  note. 


CatJiolic  and  Papal  363 

course  and  in  perfect  innocence.  Ancient  and  mediaeval 
Church  history  abundantly  teaches  the  distinction  which 
the  primitive  undivided  Church  as  well  as  the  divided 
Churches  of  the  middle  ages  made  between  Roman  and 
Catholic,  between  whatever  proceeded  from  one  single 
city  and  what  concerned  the  whole  Christian  Church.  It 
is  high  time  that  this  ideal  of  Catholicism  be  reinstated 
in  its  rights,  in  opposition  to  the  assumption  of  its  Ro- 
man caricature. 

It  was  an  historical  necessity  that  the  Protestant  ideal, 
representing  the  principle  of  Christian  individualism, 
should  in  the  sixteenth  century  have  been  obliged  to 
fight  for  its  existence  against  the  Catholic  ideal,  the  prin- 
ciple of  universalism.  But  upon  the  period  of  opposition 
there  followed  a  period  of  adjustment :  we  find  in  the 
eighteenth  century  a  mitigation  of  sectarian  differences, 
and  in  the  beginning  of  this  century  the  more  advanced 
on  both  sides,  Catholics  and  Protestants,  came  together 
in  a  closer  intercourse,  which  answered  to  the  deeper 
feelings  of  all  truly  Christian  minds.  Roman  Catholics 
began  to  appreciate  the  claims  of  Protestant  principles, 
and  in  conventions  of  Protestant  Churches  attempts  were 
repeatedly  made  to  bring  the  idea  of  Catholicism  again 
into  prominence. 

But  soon  after  the  opening  of  this  century  a  great 
change  took  place.  In  18 14  the  pope  was  restored  to  his 
capital,  and  with  that  restoration  began  a  process  of  papal 
aggression  which  culminated  in  the  dogma  of  infallibility. 
The  principles  which  have  governed  the  Papacy  since 
1814  have  been  directly  antagonistic  to  the  tendencies  of 
a  genuine  Catholicism.  The  Catholicism  for  which  the 
Papacy  in  this  century  has  stood  is  a  caricature,  the  dis- 
torted Catholicism  of  a  pure  autocracy,  hitherto  unknown 
in  the  Church ;  and  the  restoration  of  the  Papacy  marks 
the  beginning  of  the  modern  contest  between  a  genuine 


364  The  Papacy  in  the  igth  Cenhiry 

Catholicism  and  its  papal  corruption.  This  contest  is 
the  most  important  factor  in  the  ecclesiastical  history  of 
the  century,  and  in  its  light  alone  can  we  understand 
modern  national  development  in  the  various  countries. 

The  preceding  pages  have  endeavoured  to  draw  the 
lines  of  that  struggle:  we  have  traced  the  continued  ag- 
gressions of  the  Papacy  and  we  have  seen  the  resistance 
of  those  who  could  not  forget  the  purer  and  the  older 
principles  of  a  time  when  the  Church  knew  no  such  inso- 
lent tyranny.  The  crises  which  this  contest  has  called 
forth  and  the  character  of  this  struggle  in  the  various 
countries,  in  Europe,  in  the  East,  and  in  America,  vary 
according  to  the  conditions  of  each  and  the  antecedents 
and  character  of  the  people ;  but  everywhere  there  are 
the  same  essential  antagonisms.  In  all  nationalities  we 
meet  the  influence  of  the  spirit  which  again  rules  in  the 
Vatican.  The  connection  with  Rome  is  drawn  closer 
than  ever;  and  Jesuitism,  dominating  Rome,  intrudes 
everywhere.  With  the  claims  of  the  hierarchy  grow  the 
number  of  its  allies ;  while  at  the  same  time  we  observe, 
among  Roman  Catholic  populations,  an  increasing  hatred 
of  clericalism  and  a  growing  opposition  to  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal regime,  running  through  all  degrees,  from  ridicule  and 
defiance  to  positive  efforts  for  reform. 

The  struggles  between  the  papal  and  national-Catholic 
parties  reached  their  climax  in  the  Romance  or  Catholic 
countries,  but  in  Germanic  nationalities  also  we  find  the 
same  opposition  between  papalism  and  Catholicism  as  the 
historically  dominating  principle.  And  wherever,  within 
the  Church,  papalism  has  suppressed  the  opposing  ten- 
dencies, there  the  conflict  becomes  one  between  the 
Church  and  the  State,  and  turns  upon  the  emancipation 
of  the  state,  of  the  family,  and  the  school  from  the  con- 
trol of  the  hierarchy.  We  find  therefore  in  Europe  an 
increasing  desire  for  the  separation  of  Church  and  State, 
and  we  meet  with  repeated  attempts  to  make  religion 


Catholic  and  Papal 


365 


independent    of   the   Church  and    to  realise  a  morality 
uithout  religion,  or  at  least  without  sectarianism. 

Nothing  in  the  sphere  of  ecclesiastical  history  is  more 
astonishing  than  the  triumphs  of  papalism  in  our  century, 
but  those  who  believe  in  Catholicism  as  an  important 
factor  in  the  progress  of  Christian  civilisation  will  have 
confidence  in  the  ultimate  victory  of  truth ;  and  the  his- 
tory of  the  latest  times  shows  a  few  phenomena,  such  as 
the  inauguration  of  the  Christian-Catholic  Church  in  Swit- 
zerland,  the  martyrdom  of  old-Catholicism  in  Germany, 
DoUinger's  union-conferences,  and  the  opposition  to 
papalism  in  England  and  America,  which  hold  out  the 
promise  of  a  better  future — a  future  in  which  Protestant- 
ism shall  have  learned  more  fully  to  appreciate  the  ideal 
of  Catholicism,  and  in  which  the  Church  of  Rome  shall 
have  awakened  to  a  renewed  appreciation  of  her  ancient 
heritage  of  liberty. 


INDEX 


About,  Edmond,  135 

Acton,  Lord,  303/. 

Agnew,  270 

Alacoque,  239 

Albania,  218 

Alexander  I.,  15 

Alsace,  230 

Alzog,  147,  150,  154/.,  316 

Ancona,  97/". 

Anfossi,  72 

AntonelH,  65,  145,  igi 

Arbues,  Pedro,  147 

Argentine  Republic,  356,  359 

Armada,  257 

Arndt,  228 

Arnim,  Count.  171 

Arnold,  265,  276,  28S,  308 

Artists  in  Rome,  13 

Austrian  mission  in  the  East,  219/. 


B 


Baden  school  dispute,  144 

Baggs,  268 

Bagot,  Bp.,  277 

Baltzer,  106 

Basilians,  214 

Basle,  see  of,  75 

Baumann,  ig8 

Beatifications,  73,  128 

Belgium,  87/. 

Berlin  Congress,  219 

Bemetti,  g6 

Bibles  and  Bible-societies,  28/.,  73, 

83,  I02,  117,  143 
Bibles,  bonfire  of,  319 
Bismarck,  153,  171 
Bobola,  128 
Bolanden,  245 
Bologna,  95,  97 


Bosnia,  216,  218 

Bowyer,  300 

Bradlaugh,  325 

Bramston,  268 

Brazil,  356,  359/. 

Britto,  128 

Broad-Church  school,  288 

Bruno,  247 

Buckingham,  284 

Bulgaria,  217 

Bulls:  Solicitudo,  31;  on  oriental 
question,  117,  iiS  ;  Ineffabilis 
Detis,  131  ;  Aiterni  patris,  149  ; 
Pastor  ceternus,  162  ;  Reversurus, 
213  ;    Unam  sanctum,  86  «,,  235 

Bunsen,  75,  81,  92,  96,  IIO 

Burke,  320 

Byron,  263 


Cassarism,  13,  20 

Calvin,  78 

Canisius,  128 

Canonisations,  I02,  141,  147,  198 

Capaccini,  IS  /■ 

Carbonari,  69,  227 

Castelfidardo,  139 

Catholic  ideal,  80,  86,  234,  307,  345, 

365 
Catholicism,  importance  of,  361  /. 
Cavendish,  320 
Cavour,  169,  326 
Centre,  party  of,  172,  229  y. 
Charles  Albert,  124 
Charles  X.,  45,  84/. 
Charlotte,  Empress,  2A9ff- 
Chateaubriand,  83 
Chili,  356,  358/ 
Church  of  England,  middle  ground 

of,   265  ;  purification  of,   307  f.; 

relation  to  Old  Catholics,  307  /.  ; 


367 


368 


Index 


Church  of  England —  Continued 
present  activity  of,  307  f.;  Bol- 
linger on,  309  ;  Protestant  charac- 
ter of,  310 

Church  war  in  Prussia,  <^o ff.,  108 jf. 

Claver,  128 

Clement  XIV.,  20,  32,  66 

Clerkenwell  explosion,  320 

CHfford,  Bp.,  303/. 

Colenso,  293 

Colombia,  359 

Columban,  53 

Concordats,  of  Napoleon,  54#.y 
Consalvi's  policy  with,  57  ;  Span- 
ish, Sardinian,  Neapolitan,  and 
French,  58  f.;  Austrian,  60  ;  Bel- 
gian, 60  ;  Russian,  61  ;  Hanover- 
ian, 74  ;  South  American,  75 

Consalvi,  15,  22,  23/".,  34.  57,  61. 
67 

Cuba,  360 

Curci,  25,  40/.,  143,  170,  249 

Cyprian,  53 

Cyrillus,  214 


D 


Dalgaims,  282 
Darboy,  152,  165 
Decretals,  pseudo-Isidorean,  239 
DeMaistre,  15,  27,  86,  263 
Denmark,  212 
Digby,  270 
Doctores  Romania  103 
DoUinger,  67,  79,  98,  141,  152,  154, 
167,  219,  240  /.,  244,  248,  287, 

309,  345,  365 
Don  Miguel,  43 
Droste,  Archbp.,  no 
Dupanloup,  138,  152,  15S 


Ecuador,  357 

Egan,  321,  324 

Jiirenicoft,  294 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  257,  266 

Emancipation,     Catholic,     76,     83, 

253  if. 
Emmerich,  239,  250 
Encyclical,    of   Leo   XII.,    73;    of 

Gregory  XVI.,  100  ;  of  Pius  IX., 

"7 
Episcopacy,  328  _^. 
Errington,  312,  322  y. 
Essays  and  Reviews ,  293  f. 


Eugenie,  163 
Evangelical  Alliance,  345 


Faber,  281 
Falk,  175 

"  Fathers  of  the  Faith,"  35 
Fenians,  325 
Ferdinand  VII.,  43,  347 
Ferrara,  116 
Fesch,  Cardinal,  44 
Feuerbach,  go,  264 
Fitzgerald,  Bp.,  162  n. 
Formosus,  64 
Frederic  II.,  247 
Frederick  William  III.,  93 
Frederick  William  IV.,  131 
Freemasons,  28,  144,  227 
"Free"  universities,  246 y. 
Froude,  272,  276 

Fulda,  first  pastoral  from,  151  ;  sec- 
ond, 165 


Gaeta,  123,  125 

Galicia,  214 

Galilei,  247 

Gallicans,  21 

Galvani,  78 

Garibaldi,    125,    139,    141  /.,    145, 

325,  348 
Gasquet,  243  n. 
Geldern,  236 
Gerards,  Balthasar,  147 
Gervinus,  14,  19,  27 
Girard,  47 
Gizzi,  Cardinal,   115 
Gladstone,  222,  260,  269,  278,  309 
Goethe,  246 
Golden  Rose,  74 
Gondon,  304 
Gordon,  285 

Gorham  case,  285,  288,  289 
Gorkum,  martyrs  of,  147 
Grande,  128 
Gregory  VII.,  15 
Gregory  XVI.,  82,  93,  95,  II2 
Guizot,  105 
Gury,  40 

H 

Hampden,  265,  276,  288 
Hare,  308 
Hartmann,  202 


Index 


369 


Hayti,  360 

Hecker,  342 

Hefele,  Bp.,  150,  15S,  166,  237 

Hellwald,  202 

Henry  VIII.,  257,  266 

Hermes,  106,  118 

Herzog,  Bp.,  30g  ;  on  the  Episcopal 

Church,  338/-. 
Hohenlohe,  Cardinal,  176 
Hohenlohe,  Prince  152/.,  171 
Holy  Alliance,  17 
Holy  Sword,  74 
Honorius  I.,  158 
Hopkins,  J.  H.,  267,  273,  296,  309 


"  Illumination,"  20 

Immaculate  Conception,  129 

Index,  27,  236 

Infallibility,  opposition  to,  157^., 

160 ;  decree,  161  n. 
Innocent  III.,  15,  29,  179 
Inquisition,  27,  79 
Insurrection,  in  theRomagna,  1830, 

83  ;    in    Bologna,    1831,    95  ;    in 

Rimini,  1845,  98  ;  in  Lombardy, 

Sardinia,  and  Naples,  1848,  119; 

of  Poles,  144 
Invincibles,  321  y.,  325 
Ireland,  89,  312,  317^./  England's 

mission  towards,  326 
Irish  bishops,  declaration  of,  76,  260, 

303/. 

J 

James  I.,  266 

Janssen,  243^. 

Jerusalem,  2:3  ;  bishopric  of,  288 

Jesuits,  restoration  of,  30,  38  ;  attack 
liberty  of  conscience,  37  ;  orders 
affiliated  to,  35  ;  opposition  to  re- 
search by,  38  ;  superstitious  prac- 
tices introduced  by,  38  ;  oppress 
the  clergy,  38 ;  schools  of,  39  ; 
learning  of,  39  ;  Curci's  judgment 
on,  41  ;  efforts  at  reform  of,  41 
f.;  in  Sicily,  Naples,  Piedmont, 
Sardinia,  and  Modena,  42 ;  in 
Spain  and  Portugal,  43 ;  in  France, 
43^.,  103^. /congregations  affili- 
ated to,  44  f.;  in  Netherlands, 
45  f.  ;  in  Switzerland,  46,  105,  f., 
120  ;  in  Germany,  48  ;  in  Prussia, 
48  ;  expelled  from    Russia,   49 ; 


doctrine  of  murder  of  tyrants  of, 
49 ;  spread  of,  84  ;  mercantile 
activity  of,  104  ;  expelled  from 
Italy,  121  ;  expelled  from  Ger- 
many, 176;  and  Basilian  monas- 
teries, 214  /.;  in  Paraguay,  356  ; 
in  Ecuador,  357 

Joseph  II.,  247 

Joseph,  St.,  170 

Juarez,  353 

Jubilee,  73 

July  Ordinances,  84 


Keble,  272,  274,  290,  296 

Ketteler,  Bp.,  155,  158 

Kingsley,  308 

Kultui'ka7npf,\n  Prussia,  I45,  172 
ff.;  in  Bavaria  and  Baden,  180; 
in  Hesse,  iSi  ;  in  Switzerland, 
18 r  ff.;  in  Austria,  183  ff.;  in 
Spain,  185  y.y  in  Russia,  186;  in 
France,  187  ;  in  Belgium,  188  ;  in 
Brazil,  188/.,  360;  in  Ecuador, 
189  ;   end  of,  in  Germany,  207 


Labre,  198 

Lambruschini,  98,  no 

Lamennais,  76  f,  85^.,  106,  228  y. 

Lamoriciere,  139 

Land-league,  320  y. 

La  Salette,  239 

Lea,  Lady  Herbert,  301 

Leo  XII.,  71,  78,  79,  81,  82, 

Leo  XIII.  ,82,  144,  1 92^^./ as  peace- 
pope,  193,  100  ff.;  and  the  state, 
199  ;  accession  of,  203  ;  Italy  un- 
der, 20\lf .;  Germany  under,  206 
ff.  ;  Switzerland  under,  207  ;  Bel- 
gium and  Ireland  under,  210 ; 
Chili  and  Colombia  under,  2io  ; 
letter  to  queen,  323 

Leonardi,  128 

Lewis,  David,  284 

Liberali,  22 

Liguori,  94 

Littledale,  309 

Lopez,  356 

Louis  of  Holland,  13,  21 

Louis  XIV.,  257 

Louis  XVIII.,  45,  85 

Loveday,  Miss,  268 


370 


Index 


Lucas,  271,  304 
Luther,  242,  284 


M 


MacParlan.  321/. 

Magenta,  136 

Mainz,  reforming  synod  of,  26 

Mamiani,  122 

Manning,  147,  150  ;  secession  of, 
290;  and  Pusey,  291  ;  after  con- 
version, 292  ;  archbishop,  292/./ 
attacks  Church  of  England,  293 ; 
letter  to  Pusey,  294  ;  personal  pe- 
culiarities of,  294;  and  infallibility, 
295  ;  and  the  state,  295  ;  super- 
sedes older  Catholics,  305  ff, 

Marpingen,  miracles  of,  250 

Martignac,  84 

Mary,  Bloody,  257 

Mary  Stuart,  257,  284 

Maximilian,  Emperor,  144,  2>A9  ff- 

"  May  Laws,"  177/. 

Mazzini,  116,  125,  325 

McCarthy,  3i5i  317,  325 

Meglia,  2,Soff. 

Mejer,  52 

Melchers,  Archbp.,  166,  175 

Mentana,  146 

Methodius,  214 

Metternich,  16,  23,  34,  89,  226 

Mexico,  348  _^. 

Molly  Maguires,  321 

Monasteries  restored,  28,  67 

Montalembert,  106,  153 

Montefalco,  Clara  of ,  198/. 

Moody,  293 

Moore,  263 

Moreno,  357 

Mortara,  134 

Mosul,  212 

Muhler,  166,  174 

MUller,  Michael,  on  education,  342, 

344 
Murat,  12,  69 

N 

Napoleon  III.,  letter  to  pope,  137 

Naumowicz,  216 

Nelson,  Earl,  299 

Nestorians,  212 

Netherlands,  211 

Newman,   275  ;   submits  to  bishop, 

277  ;  hesitates,  278  ;  Gladstone  on, 

278  /.;  literary  activity,  2S2  /.; 


secedes,  282  ;  effect  of  secession, 
286  ;  later  life  of,  287  ;  and  infal- 
libility, 287;  made  cardinal,  287/"./ 
pushed  to  the  rear,  289 ;  com- 
pared with  Manning,  290  /.; 
Apologia,  298  ;  on  Church  of 
England,  298  ;  on  old  and  new 
Tractarians,  302  y. 

New  York,  319 

Nicholas  I.  of  Russia,  iii 

Niebuhr,  57,  62,  no,  362 

Nhilism,  202 

Northcote,  284 

Norway  and  Sweden,  212 

Novara,  124 

Novels,  fabrication  of,  245 


O 


Oakeley,  280/. 

O'Connell,  87,  89,  263,  318/. 

Old-Catholic    bishops,    pastoral   of, 

132/. 
Old-Catholic    movement    in    South 

America,  360 


Pacca,  22,  26,  36 

Palestine,  213 

Palmer,  274,  290,  296  _/, 

Papacy,  restoration  of,  il,  12  ;  and 
the  national  movement,  18  f.; 
and  revolution,  60,  109,  228,  324  ; 
opposition  to  national  Catholic- 
ism, 60,  364  ;  foundation  of  tem- 
poral power  of,  64  ;  influence  of, 
in  Rome,  65  f. ;  and  society, 
224  ff.;  exploitation  of  religion 
by,  224  ;  power  of,  225,  231^.  / 
causes  of  power,  225  /".  /  allies  of, 
229,  231  ;  relation  of,  to  state, 
230  ;  and  the  clergy,  232  y.  ;  re- 
lation of,  to  science,  235  ;  to  his- 
tory, 237-248  ;  to  religion,  2\%ff.; 
power  of ,  in  England,  315 /".y  in 
United  States,  341  ff.  ;  preten- 
sions of,  361  ff. ;  caricature  of 
Catholicism  in,  363 

Paraguay,  347,  356 

Parliament,  first  Italian,  140 

Parnell.  323 

Passaglia,  130,  140  y.,  142 

Pepin,  63 

Perceval,  271,  279 

Perrone,  102 


Index 


371 


Persecution  in  England,  256  _^. 

Peru,  356.  357/. 

Peter,  centenary  of,  146 

Philip  of  Suabia,  iSo 

Phillips,  270 

Pittar,  269 

Pius  VI.,  20,  36 

Pius  VII.,  20,  22,  27,  36,  78,  82 

Pius  VIII.,  82 

Pius  IX.,  82,  99,  348  ;  j-efoxisa..-9L 
113,  H5  /.  y^  ejcclesk§tIca]L-C^ 
servaf isna  of>„,T  iffjClT appeals  to 
people,  122  ;  protests,  123,  125  ; 
and  infallibility,  \<~,Z  f.  ;  in  the 
Kultui-kampf,  lib  ff.  ;  compared 
with  Christ,  190 ;  interferes  in 
Mexico,  350/".,  354 

"  Pius-hymn,"  148 

Pohle,  241 

Poland,  88 

Polignac,  84 

Pornocracy,  64 

Portalis,  55 

Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  repre- 
senting Catholic  ideal,  327,  345  ; 
origin  of,  330  f.  ;  constitution 
and  character  of,  331/.  ;  activity 
of,  332  ff.  ;  statistics  of,  334  f.  ; 
"  intercommunion  of  Catholicism 
and  Protestantism  "  in,  337  ;  re- 
lations with  Italy  and  Rome, 
337/.  ,•   Bp.    Herzog   on,    338^. 

Protestant  Jesuits,  37,  174,  233 

Protest  of  bishops  at  Vatican  Coun- 
cil, 156 

Punctations  of  Ems,  26 

Pusey,  272/".  y  defends  Newman, 
277  ;  suspension  of,  277  ;  Pius  on, 
277  ;  replies  to  Manning,  294 


Queretaro,  349,  354 

R 

Radetzki,  124 

Ranke,  62,  145 

Ravignan,  104 

Redemptorists,  35 

Reinkens,    Bp.,    198  ;    on  Janssen, 

244 
Renftle,  167 
Restoration  of  hierarchy  in  England, 

133,  Ziiff.  ;  in  Holland,  133  ;  in 

Scotland,  316 


Revolution  in  Spain,  Naples,  and 
Piedmont,  1820,  70 

Revolution  of  Carlists  in  Spain,  107 

Revolution  of  July,  1S30,  84,  263  ; 
in  Belgium,  87  ;  in  Poland,  88  ;  in 
Germany,  89  /.  /  in  papal  states, 
95  #. 

Revolution  of  1848,  119 

Ricci,  42 

Ripon,  marquis  of,  300 

Ritualism,  297  f. 

Rivarola,  S3 

Robertson,  J.  B.,  285 

Romanticists,  16 

Rome,  after  the  Revolution,  66 ; 
under  the  Papacy,  (^1  /.,  1^  f., 
83,  99  ;  reforms  of  Pius  IX.  in, 
115  /'.  y  new  constitution  of,  12I  ; 
a  republic,  124 ;  Italians  enter, 
164  ;  annexed  to  Italy,  1 63  /. 

Roothaan,  84 

Rossi,  123 

Rothe,  Richard,  80 

Roumania,  217 

Russell,  Lord  John,  313/.,  318 

Russia,  220  f. 

Ruthenians,  214/. 


Sacred  Heart,  congregations  of,  35  ; 

worship  of,  38,  170,  250,  357 
Sadowa,  145 
Sala,  25 
Saville,  259 
Scheeben,  240 
Schleiennacher,  228 
Schmedding,  109,  ill 
"  School,"  papal  hterary,  102 
Scott,  Walter,  263 
Sconce,  285 
Secchi,  103 

Sembratowicz,  215/".,  233 
Servia,  217 
Sherman,  343 
Sibour,  130,  132 
Sibthorp,  270 
Simpson,  284 
Slaves,  Roman  propaganda  among, 

214 
Solferino,  136 
Sommaglia,  75 
Sonderbund,   120  ;  war  of  the,  48, 

231 
South  and  Central  America,  state  of 

religion  in,  346/.,  ZSSff-,  359 


372 


Index 


Spencer,  George,  270 
Spener,  250 
"  Sperr-Gesetz,"  179 
Spiegel,  Archbp.,  93,  109/". 
Stanley,  282 

Stonyhurst,  college  of,  259 
Strauss,  90,  202,  264 
Strossmayer,  Bp.,  158,  214 
Sutton,  293 
Sybel,  144 

Syllabus,  142^.,  149 
Syria,  Roman  propaganda  in,  213, 
222 


Talleyrand,  23 

Tangermann,  166,  175.  269 

Test  Acts,  25^/.,  264/.,  308 

Theophilanthropists,  21 

Thomas  Aquinas,  194^. 

Thompson,  Healy,  284 

Tractarian  movement,  271^.  y  "old 
school"  and  "new  school"  in, 
302  /.  ;  results  of,  309  /. 

Tractarians     and     born     Catholics, 

304  if- 
Tract  Ninety,  274,  276,  277,  286 
Tracts  for  the  Times,  268 
Triple  Alliance,  209 
Turkey,  217/. 
Tynan,  324 

U 
Ultramontanism  in  France,  231 


Universities,  papal  hostility  to,  107 
Uruguay,  356 


V 


Vaccination  abolished,  68 

Vatican  Council,  protest  of  bishops 

at,  156 
Vere,  Aubrey  de,  300 
Veuillot,  149 
Via  Media,  276 

Vienna,  Congress  of,  17,  24,  226 
Villafranca,  peace  of,  136 
Vulliemin,  47 

W 

War,  Sardinian-Austrian,  124  ;  of 
1859,  136  ;  of  1866,  145  ;  of  1870, 
163  /. ;  of  the  Papacy  against 
modern  society,  168 

Ward,  W.  G.,  2S0,  303 

Wessenberg,  33,  60,  74,  94,  233 

Whately,  265,  288 

Wilberforce,  290 

William  of  Orange,  247 

William  III.,  257 

Willibrord,  53 

Windhorst,  145,  175,  242 

Wingfield,  284 

Wiseman,  283,  292,  301,  303,  313 

Wright,  Sir  Leopold,  270 


Zelanti,  22,  71 


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